


The Right Decision

by Gwendal_Wincott



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2019-07-20 06:15:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 47,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16131362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gwendal_Wincott/pseuds/Gwendal_Wincott
Summary: Dumbledore took a deep breath and entered the orphanage. It was a dreary place where no child should have to grow up.He shook his head to clear his mind. This wasn’t the time to think like this. He went on to his way to see Mrs. Cole.The woman had nothing but horrid stuff to say about Tom Marvolo Riddle.The story in which Tom Marvolo Riddle actually acts like an intelligent young man.





	1. Chapter 1

Dumbledore took a deep breath and entered the orphanage. It was a dreary place where no child should have to grow up.

He shook his head to clear his mind. This wasn’t the time to think like this. He went on to his way to see Mrs. Cole.

 

The woman had nothing but horrid stuff to say about Tom Marvolo Riddle. Was it a surprise the boy was bitter ? With the way the woman was talking, he knew she thought the boy was devil reincarnate. So, he didn’t cry when he was a baby. Did that make him a monster? Some cried too much, some didn’t. Was it really so weird? They were babies for Merlin’s sake.

 

About the rabbit, well, he would have to talk to the kid. He had no qualms in admitting that he did not trust the woman walking beside him. She seemed the sort who would have been involved in witch hunting’s. No. He looked carefully at her.

She was exactly the sort of superstitious person to be involved in such things.

 

The boy was a wizard. He knew his magic must be uncontrollable especially given the horrendous place he was living in. No, he will talk to the kid and see for himself.

 

And he was the last person who should be judging anyone. After what he’d wanted to do with Gellert. Moreover, he still refused to fight the man he…does love.

Who never loved him back and most probably knew his feelings and used them to further his own ends.

It took his darling sister’s death to open his eyes. His brother abhorring even the sight of him to see the truth.

 

And most of all the knowledge that he was the one who had killed Ariana. He knew Gellert knew this. His ex-best friend/love interest knew why he was acting like a coward instead of facing the dark lord, Gellert Grindelwald and stopping him and his tyranny.

 

Albus shook his head again. This wasn’t the time to feel sorry for himself. He had to welcome a new student. 

 

He will talk to this kid and if the kid is bitter…he’ll try to help him. He was a kid for Merlin’s sake. A kid brought up in a time of war and orphanage, with a horrid woman as his caretaker.

 

* * *

 

 

 

The kid was…sure of himself. Arrogant. Yes, but not a bad person. He was a parselmouth. That was rare. He was sure only Salazar Slytherin’s descendants and very few Peverells could speak it. But then again Herpo the foul could also speak it. He didn't think much about it.

 

Tom had done something to that kid’s rabbit.

 

He’d asked the child to open the cupboard and get the box out which contained the stolen items. He had sensed something and had politely asked Tom to show him what was there.  Tom had been reluctant but he’d done what was told.

 

He did his best to help the child.

 

Dumbledore looked at the contents and sighed. They were all children. And if he wasn’t wrong the others at the orphanage bullied Tom because he was different and the child lashed out in the only way he could.

 

Thanks, Mrs. Cole. This is all your bloody fault. He looked at Tom and saw the child was not looking at him. It was clear he was upset. He’d have to handle this carefully.

 

“Tom,” he said gently. The child looked up and he could see how afraid he was.

“Tom, theft is bad. You know that, don’t you?”

Tom didn’t say anything.

“Would you like it if your things were stolen?”

Tom went rigid and finally after what seemed a long time but were in reality a few minutes, he shook his head. His voice was soft as he answered the professor.

“No. I would hate it.”

Albus nodded. “Shouldn’t we treat people like we want to be treated?”

 

Tom nodded slowly and Dumbledore could see the boy was sorry. But then the child spoke and he felt incredibly sad for the child before him.

 

“They laugh at me, they call me a weird. They fight with me…think I  am a mental. Especially that woman. She hates me. She thinks I am mad… a freak. Devil’s spawn.”

 

Albus closed his eyes. Ah, the matron was to thank for this. He had heard the child shouting when he’d first entered. That he was not mental and that Dumbledore was from mental institution.

 

“Hogwarts is not a place for mentally ill people, Tom. I am a teacher.”

 

Dumbledore got up and slowly went to Tom. He patted Tom’s head and Tom stiffened. After a while his hands unclenched and his shoulders lost their rigidity.

Tom hesitantly looked at him and he felt his heart clench. The child was afraid.

 

“You are not mad, Tom. You are a wizard. You are special. You are correct. But that does not mean we can hurt the ones who are not. They may have hurt you but what will happen if we continue hurting each other. One day the world will cease to exist. Be angry if you want. Confront them, be angry… but don’t think of hurting them. Hurting never solves anything. Never. ”

 

For a while Tom didn’t say anything. Albus continued to look at him. After a while Tom nodded. He was happy to see the boy had relaxed.

 

Tom gathered his courage and closed his eyes for a minute. Then he raised his head and looked at the man in front of him with resolve in his eyes.

 

“I will return all the things. I won’t give it to them personally. But I’ll make sure they get them.”

 

Dumbledore looked at the boy for a minute then nodded. He could see he was telling the truth.

 

Many people thought he could read minds. He could. He was an accomplished Leglimens but he wasn’t a creep. Why would he want to read people’s minds? That was plain gross invasion of privacy. No, his talents were for criminal’s, not general public or kids. He was very good at reading the body language. There was a reason he was famous. It wasn’t because of a dumb mind reading ability. He wasn’t a cheat.

 

“That’ good, Tom.”

 

Tom smiled and Dumbledore felt good to see it. It was a genuine smile. He was too experienced to know when people were lying or putting on a façade. The kid wasn’t doing anything of the sort.

 

Dumbledore ruffled his hair and went back to his chair. He then told him about Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Alley and where to get his books and other school supplies from. He also told him how the wizarding currency worked. Tom hesitantly told him he had no money. Dumbledore just smiled sadly at that.

 

“That’s fine, Tom. There is a fund for students who don’t have money. You can get anything you want. A pet, books for light reading. Anything. ”

Tom nodded. “Alright.”

Dumbledore clapped his hands then. “So, do you want me to come with you?”

 

Tom thought for a while then shook his head. “No, sir. But can you be there? I would like to talk to you later. But I want to go there by myself.”

 

Dumbledore nodded and stood up and patted the boy’s head again. The boy smiled again and Dumbledore felt happy. The boy looked content. He wasn’t looking as bitter and sad as before.

 

“I’ll leave an address for you, Tom. If you want to talk just touch this paper. I’ll know.  You’ll get the money whenever you wish to go.”

He handed him a blank piece of parchment which he had enchanted himself.

 

As Dumbledore neared the door he looked back and waved at the kid.

“Goodbye, Tom.”

Tom stood up and waved back. “Good bye, professor.”

* * *

 

 

Tom slept peacefully that day. He knew what he’d done was wrong that what the man, Albus Dumbledore had said was right. He wasn’t stupid enough to think that stealing was right, or hanging innocent rabbits from rafters. He was a genius. He was intelligent. He wasn’t an idiot. They’d hurt him so he’d hurt them back. That was it.

It was nice to know he wasn’t a head case. He’ll have to talk to the man more to make sure he could trust him. But the man wasn’t bad. The man was… he was okay.  He wasn’t looking at him like that horrid woman looked at him.

 

Tom smiled to himself as he again remembered he was a wizard.

“I can do magic. I’ll be great. I’ll study hard and I am going to become a great person. Everyone will respect me and I’ll be remembered. I’ll- I’ll also find a way to not die. Or live for a very long time. I will be a great sorcerer and everyone will respect me.”

 

Tom slept then with a smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first Harry Potter fic and the only reason I wrote it is because I love Tom/Harry.
> 
> I hope it's enjoyable.
> 
> Dumbledore is not going to think, oh look, the kid is evil. Gellert Grindelwald's younger version.
> 
> In the COS, Tom Riddle did say Dumbledore kept a close eye on him after he opened the COS.
> 
> And, he also didn't set Tom's wardrobe on fire.
> 
> OOC, well, most fanfictions are but I don't think they are OOC.


	2. Chapter 2

Tom went to Diagon Alley and got his school stuff. He was fascinated and couldn’t control his glee at everything he saw. Men and women in colourful robes; kids, teenagers laughing and eating while pointing at different items. Cauldrons of different sizes, broomsticks on display, beautiful leather bound books, owls, toads hooting and croaking from their cages.

 

For a minute he felt sad. It would’ve been nice if he had parents too. But he knew his mother must’ve been a weak human to die in child birth. Because of medical science women didn’t die in childbirth as much as they’d before. She couldn’t have been a witch. She didn’t live a long life.

 

Tom shook his head. No. He will not think like that. Weak or not his mother had given birth to him. He never knew his father. And from what that horrid woman had told him his mother had really cared for him and for his father. Tom, he was named after his father. Marvolo after his maternal grandfather. Riddle was his surname. At least his parents were married. Small favours. He didn’t want to be bastard on top of everything.

 

He always thought Tom was an ordinary name. He vowed to himself to do great things so that people would know he was not common. Tom Marvolo Riddle is going to be a name people would say with respect, awe and reverence.

 

He got a beautiful eagle first and smiled at the creature. He would’ve gotten a snake but it wasn’t on the list. It wasn’t like he had anyone to send letters to. But he wanted one. So, he got it.  

Well, he would find a way to make the bird happy. It was usually owls who were used for delivery anyway. 

 

He went to Flourish and Blotts and got his books. He also got a couple of extra books which he liked by name. Ancient runes, alchemy, arithmancy, divination, time travelling, history of magic, mythical creatures encyclopedia. Then he got his trunk and potion ingredients.

 

Albus Dumbledore had told him that he was free to buy stuff he liked. So, he did.

 

He ate a light lunch at Leaky Cauldron, then went to get his robes. He didn’t buy too many since he knew there was no point. Three sets were mentioned in the list so that’s what he got. It wasn’t like he could wear them when he was at _that_ place.

 

He then went to Ollivanders to get his wand. The blonde haired man in his thirties smiled at him and told him how wands choose a wizard.

 

He had tried twenty five wands and now he was getting really angry.

 

Was there a problem with him? Why wasn’t any wand choosing him? Was it because he was afraid of death? Because he had gotten back to his bullies? He had regretted what he’d done. He’d returned their dumb items too. Was it because he was angry at his father and mother for leaving him in the world all alone. He was angry at them for being placed in that filthy place with those filthy people who made his life a living hell and treated him like a monster?

 

Ollivander looked at the box in his hand.

 

“I wonder if this is it…”

 

Fawkes had only given him two feathers. Just two. He didn’t know why the bird never gave him feathers again. The phoenix used to fly away after getting treats from him but never gave him feathers again. He was a sweet bird. He liked Fawkes.

 

When Ollivander gave the wand to the boy he felt the whole shop thrum with incredible magic. He shivered as he sensed it. He slowly looked at the boy who now looked happy but also wary.

 

Ollivander had not sensed such magic in a very very long time. He looked at the boy who’d put the wand back and was now looking at him with doe eyes. He knew this kid would be great. Yes, this boy was going to do a great number of remarkable things. His clothes suggested he was a muggleborn. But he wasn’t an idiot or a bigot. He didn’t give two shits if the child was muggleborn or not wealthy.

 

Merlin himself had human parents. It's only idiotic wizards who thought they were better and above others because they were purebloods.

 

Repulsive. The lot of them were distantly related. Inbreds. Sacred twenty eight thought they were great. He knew one day they will regret their choices. He didn’t know why Nott had placed his family in that horrendous list. His mother was a muggleborn witch and a wonderful lady.

 

He himself was a half blood. He was intelligent and skilled in wandlore. He was the best.

 

Yeah, Gregorovitch was fine but he was better. The idiot had even started spreading rumours about the Elder Wand.

Dumbass.

 

He wasn’t an idiot. Magic was magic. Why the hell should it matter if they were half-bloods, purebloods or muggleborns? Did they think Merlin sprang from earth? He had human parents who weren’t magic folk. Idiots.

 

He had actually laughed after he’d read that very weird theory that muggleborns stole wizards magic.

 

For supposedly supreme beings, wizards sure were dumb. Or they were admitting muggles were way too great. Didn’t they realise how absurd their theories were. They didn’t even have any proof. Because there was none. Fools.

 

Sadly, majority were like this. He knew one day they will regret their beliefs. He knew. Marrying your own distant family, cousins….it was repulsive no matter how you cut it.

 

For supposedly higher beings, they weren’t that bright. Keeping the bloodlines pure…gross. Marrying their own cousins no matter how distantly related or removed.

 

And worse was they didn’t want to marry outside of sacred twenty eight. Few brave ones who did were looked down upon. He loved his parents and was proud of his father. His friend, Giselle had married a French man and her parents had disowned her. She was bad, rotten and worthless because she hadn’t wanted to marry some distant cousin, a pureblood from bloody sacred  twenty eight. Bullshit.

 

Pureblood wizards were there across the world. But no. They had to stick to their disgusting inbreeding. He knew what will happen one day. They will become like trolls. Monsters. Sterile. Deformed. Deranged. There was a reason for Squibs existence.

 

Not to mention they were bloody hypocrites. He was a half blood and yet still they purchased wands from him. Because he was excellent at what he did. But they looked down on half-bloods and muggleborns in everyday lives. 

 

And that Gaunt line. Merlin’s beard. They gave him the fucking creeps. Slytherin must be rolling in his grave after seeing them. Look there Mr. Salazar, a fine example of your pure line. Who the hell cares if they can talk to snakes? The lot of them were horrible and deranged.

 

Blacks…half of them were insane. Alphard was a good boy though. He will go far in his life.

 

Walburga was definitely a true mental case. He did not want that banshee in his shop ever again. She was plain atrocious. Purebloods this purebloods that. She sounded like a broken record. He pitied the person she would marry. She will make their lives hell. God forbid the woman had children…they will definitely suffer abuse at her hands.

 

He’d wanted to strangle her when she was insulting muggleborns, his mother’s heritage.

 

Lestranges were another great family like the Malfoys. Abraxas was irritating and rude. For supposedly purebloods none of them had manners. Abraxas’s parents had been nice. He didn’t know why the boy was a bigot. Hell, Malfoys had half-bloods in their family.

 

Lestranges thought they were better than every other pureblood. They still had their great magic and looks. Not for long if they continued inbreeding. Avery’s were ….not mental but weren’t better. Notts were intelligent. He would give few generations before they also turned into Gaunts. It was inevitable.

 

Some Potters were nice. They even had creature blood and some had married muggleborns. Good for them. They weren’t brain dead. Some were bigots though, like Charlus Potter. The boy was a wimp too.

 

Macmillans and Scamander’s were okay. Weasleys were too weird. Crabbe and Goyle…great example of pureblood superiority. Bunch of dunderheads.

No one in their right mind would want to marry those two families.

 

He was sure some were part trolls. Like Walburga. He was sure she was part banshee. He was ready to bet his skill as a wand maker on that. Something was wrong with her. He blamed the inbreeding.

 

He knew some muggles were vicious. Witch hunting’s, witch burnings…it was thanks to them. But was it okay to hate the whole race because of the people who were involved in that monstrosity. No. It wasn’t. Calling them mudbloods. Calling the bright children that…it was too horrible.

 

There should be spell to locate children who weren’t being treated right by muggles. That way they could be saved. He wasn’t naïve enough to think every muggle was happy with magic.

But they were easily dealt with. A small obliviate. Poof. Memories gone. But calling their children mudbloods when they came into the magic world to study. Treating them like filth.

 

His mother had been called that once and well let’s say his father’s anger had been uncontrollable.

He’d wanted to hex that deranged Black-Rosier woman for insulting his lovely mother but his father had done the job splendidly.  Stupid woman.

 

Magic was a gift. It should be cherished. It should reach new heights.

 

It’s the purebloods who must have some defect in their bloods to want to marry their own distant cousins. Cousins were still family. He knew very few muggles who did this. And nowadays only weird ones were like that. Thank Merlin the weird ones were very few.

 

He still got chills when he remembered that one couple that was talking in his shop about how they were second cousins and spouses. He hadn’t been able to eat that day.

 

 

Magic should be celebrated; light or dark. Dark magic wasn’t evil. Some spells were but not all.

Samhain and Yule should not have been banned. Walpurgis Night was a liitle dangerous but Samhain and Yule weren’t. Just because a ritual involved blood didn’t make it evil.

 

Muggles had their traditions and they were good but was it so hard to accept both. Why weren’t people using their heads?

 

His family followed both wizarding and muggle traditions. He was a lucky child.

 

After his parents had heard this from him they’d not talked for a full whole month. Not to each other, not to him. When they had, they’d kissed his forehead and had said they were extremely proud of him. They’d both had tears in their eyes.

 

 

He shook himself out of his thoughts and smiled widely at the kid.

 

 

“That wand is yours, Mr. Riddle. You are incredibly gifted.”

 

The kid’s eyes widened as he heard that.

 

Only handful of wizards are like you, Tom Marvolo Riddle was left unsaid. Capable of both great and terrible things. Capable of wielding both light and dark magic to great heights. He didn’t tell this to the kid. Instead he just smiled.

 

Tom smiled and looked at the wand. It was his. The kind man had told him his wand had a phoenix feather as its core as he was wrapping his wand. Yew, thirteen and  a half inches.

 

Tom walked around the shops where Dumbledore was supposed to meet him. He wondered if his unique wand had anything to do with his wish to live a long life. He knew about the mythical bird of fire: phoenix. They burned when it was time for them to die and were reborn from the ashes. Eternal cycle of life and death. He clenched his hands.

 

He will live a long life.

 

He will search for immortality even if he knew it was futile. There were some things even magic could not do. He doubted even magic could undo nature.  He was a genius. Not a delusional idiot. But he will try, maybe’ he’ll be proven wrong. But he had his doubts. Magic was great but he doubted anything could turn the very fabric of nature. And there was always a price for such things. He’d read a book in Flourish and Blotts to pass his time about time turners.

 

Living beings lived and died. That was the truth.

 

He smiled a little when he saw auburn haired professor sitting in a shop called Florean Fortescue.

 

“Hello, Tom. I trust you got everything you needed?” Dumbledore asked with a smile.

Tom nodded at the man. “Yes, professor. I got everything.”

“Good, then let’s celebrate.”

 

Albus gestured for Tom to sit and asked for more ice cream.

 

Tom turned a little red but didn’t stop the man. He never really cared for sweet stuff but he didn’t dislike it. He’d never eaten much at the orphanage because of his anger.

He ate three scoops of chocolate fudge and he felt… happy.

 

Well, it’s good.

 

“It’s delicious,” Tom smiled at his professor.

 

Albus beamed at the kid. Good. The kid is happy. Yes, kids should always be happy. They shouldn’t be sad and bitter. No one should be.

 

Dumbledore told him a little about Quidditch, a game which sounded hilarious, it was played on broomsticks, Gobstones and Wizarding chess. Then he bid Tom goodbye.

 

“Goodbye, Tom. Take care.”

 

Tom waved back and went back to his temporary residence. That shitty place was not his home.


	3. Chapter 3

Tom was sitting in his carriage accompanied by three boys and two girls. He’d learned they were all half-bloods. He didn’t know what he was. He’d read about blood purity and had found the whole thing distasteful.

Sure muggles were ignorant and his orphanage mates were downright repulsive. But if this was how wizarding world was…well, he would have to show bullies here too that it was a very bad idea to mess with him.

He could do exactly what he’d done to the rabbit to them.

He will not be responsible for his actions if someone called him a mudblood. He didn’t know what he was. He knew he was great at magic. That’s all that mattered. His blood was thousand times better than these people. The sacred twenty eight married within themselves. They were all related in some ways. Reading that had left a bad taste in his mouth. Inbreeding. Cousins or not family was family.

 

But that’s was the thing. Just because he could hurt them didn’t mean he should. No, he was here to study and if anyone will harass them…well, he knows exactly how they’ll shut up. Magic.  He knew he will be good. He was determined and he will prove it that he was the greatest sorcerer in the world.

 

When they’d asked him he’d said he might be a half blood but he grew up in an orphanage so he didn’t know. He knew he couldn't have been a muggleborn.

 

They were nice. They got stuff from trolley and he took some sweets when they kept on insisting that he had to eat at least a few of them. He thanked the boy, Evan Scamander and smiled politely at them.

All five of them had turned a little red at that. He knew he was very beautiful. He was very handsome. Mrs. Cole had told him his mother was no beauty. She had laughed actually when she'd said that.

So it must have been his father who was handsome. She’d also told him his mother had wished he would be like his father. Why did she have to die? Couldn’t she live for him? Her child? He shook his head. Now was not the time to think about such things.

 

For most of the ride he read his ancient runes book and the other five talked amongst themselves. They were…okay.

 

* * *

 

 

He was a little wary of getting into the boat. It was raining and he knew there was something big in the lake. He had seen a large tentacle in the distance. It was some kind of squid creature. God, why’d they have children in such a dangerous place?

He’d heard and read about Loch Ness. He wondered if that was true too. It must be.

[Later he found out it was true. The creature was a kelpie and he became good friends with it.]

 

* * *

 

 

“Riddle Tom,” Albus called and Tom went and sat on the wooden stool.

Dumbledore smiled at him as he put the hat on his head.

 

Tom didn’t know what to expect but he would’ve jumped if not for who he was. The hat was talking to him.

 

“Ah, now this is interesting. One of theirs huh. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant mind, very ambitious too. Hmm, you’d do well in any house. You are brave though not as brave as Godric. You are very intelligent like Rowena. You can be loyal and nice like Helga and you are as cunning and fierce as Salazar. Where should I put you?”

Tom didn’t know if he should talk back or not so he stayed quiet. But it seemed the hat was waiting for him to say something. And what did it mean that he was one of theirs? Whose? 

 

He could see children from the four house tables looking at him with apprehension. Seems like the hat didn’t take this long usually. Great, just what he needed. More attention.

 

“I just want to be great. I want people to respect me and I want to be known.”

 

The hat snorted before shouting Slytherin.

“You will become great, Tom Marvolo Riddle. Salazar will be proud. Oh yes, he will be shocked and mortified but proud. I dare say Godric, Helga and Rowena would have loved you too.”

 

Dumbledore winked at him and called the next name. Tom smiled back and went to the table where other Slytherins were. Great, they were looking at him as if he was beneath them.

 

He quietly sat at the corner and waited for the sorting to be over. He will ruin them if they will call him mudblood.

 

He ate everything with relish. The food was great. He liked the fact he could eat as much as he wanted. He wasn’t going to starve now.

 

* * *

 

 

Tom stayed quiet and polite. His seniors looked at him and a boy in his year, David Stan with disdain. He knew why that must be. He usually ignored them. He was good at school work and minded his own business. They were just looking for now. The minute they will do something…well. They will curse the day they ever thought about hurting him.

 

Professor Merrythought, the Defence against Dark Arts teacher and Dumbledore who taught Transfiguration always awarded him points for giving correct answers in classes. Who was he kidding, he was awarded points by every teacher. Filius and Charlotte Abbott liked him too. Horace was head of his house and always looked out for him.

 

He had no desire to draw attention to himself. So, he never raised his hand whenever a question was asked. But he always answered whenever he was asked directly.

 

His answers were always smooth, fluid. They were not word for word from textbook. He had read the text and answered how he understood the spell. That’s why Merrythought and Dumbledore were impressed with him.

 

He wasn’t a know it all nor was he a nerd. He was a true genius not a bookworm. He didn’t even need to bury his head in books. He was naturally gifted.

 

Reading the text once or twice once was enough for him. He was definitely blessed in that regard. He was able to read and learn more because of his natural talent.

 

 Filius Flitwick was very impressed with him.

“Wonderful, Mr Riddle. Excellent. You’ll go very far in life. Your hand movements are simply graceful. Marvelous. ”

 

Tom smiled a little and thanked the professor.

 

Dumbledore asked if he was okay once a month.

 

“Are you having a good time, Tom?”

 

Tom remembered his classes, learning so many new things, levitating feathers, mixing potions, transfiguring needles, learning about stars and how their alignment affected the magic. Defence against dark arts, though he didn’t think all dark magic was bad. He thought about the library and smiled. It was fantastic. So  many books on Alchemy, magical creatures, venoms, potions. Yes, he was very much enjoying his studies.

 

“Yeah, I am happy here.”

 

Dumbledore smiled kindly at him. “I am glad you are feeling good.”

 

Slughorn was a pompous man. He was a great example of a person who was way too into sweets. He should be shown to children as an example that this would be their future if they ate too much candies and sweets.

But he was head of his house and doted on all children from all houses. He also awarded him points for every well made potion which was a regular occurrence since he was exceptional.

 

* * *

 

His first year went by without any problem. He didn’t have any friends but he was on good speaking terms with Evan Scamander. His house mates on the other hand only gave him sneers. He ignored them.

 

In the end the house cup was awarded to Hufflepuff. His points alone could not get them a house cup.

 

He was given a special gold medal for exemplary work in all of his subjects. Defense Against Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, Potions, History of magic and Astronomy.  His work was so good that the governors had given him the medal. No first year had been that good in centuries.

 

He had seen wondrous looks from Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs when he’d been awarded the medal. Gryffindors had looked amused but happy. While his housemates…most of them were glaring at him.

Though David and Emma were smiling politely and clapping along with the rest of the houses. He knew they were muggleborns.

 

Even seventh year Slytherins had been giving him dark looks. He’d wondered how petty they could be to be jealous of a first year. For supposedly purebloods they acted in a very… plebeian way.

 

In all his first year had been good. Headmaster Dippet and Flitwick had given him many books to read for summer. The headmaster had also patted his head when he’d given him the medal. Merrythought and Dumbledore had given him a bottomless bag in which he could keep all his books which was charmed to him.

 

Horace Slughorn had been very proud of his student and had thrown a party for him in which he had invited the whole school. He was sure his house head hadn’t even noticed when he had slipped out after an hour and had gone to Astronomy Tower. He was grateful but he really didn’t like talking to anyone.

 

Charlotte Abbott had given him box of chocolates and candies. The herbology professor treated him like her own son. The woman was very nice. Mrs Cole could learn plenty from her. That’s how mother figures were supposed to be like.

 

He felt good as the train took him back to the orphanage. He just had to wait for a couple of months then he would be back home.


	4. Chapter 4

Tom knew it was too much to hope for that everything will be fine. No. He was right to be vigilant. Here, he was, cornered by five fourth years and three seventh years. His own housemates, perfect purebloods, acting like filthy muggles.

Well, they have wakened a sleeping dragon. They’ll have no one to blame but themselves for being burnt. He was waiting for them to call him a mudblood.

 

The fourth years were Orion Black, Abraxas Malfoy, Ellair Lestrange, Sylvester Avery and Godfrey Nott. The seventh years were Crabbe, Goyle and Mulciber.

Abraxas sneered at him as he backed him to the wall more.

He looked around and realized he was on the second floor corridor. He could hear some portraits whispering behind him.

 

He looked at all of them with interest.

 

The three seventh years were ugly as hell. The giant ones were definitely part trolls. This was what he was supposed to be afraid of? Trolls? They were supposedly pureblood wizards.

Huh…more like product of inbreeding.

He gave the fourth years a smirk. In a few generations they’ll become just like them. Pathetic. They should be thanking god for their magic and looks. Because their progeny will lose that in a few generations.

Most likely their magic too. Squibs were there for a reason.

These creatures thought they had any right to call anyone mudblood. Look down upon half-bloods.

 

Abraxas noticed Tom smirking and his face lost his glee. It was replaced by something very ugly.

“You think you can smirk at us, huh, you little mudblood,” Abraxas said and raised his hand.

Orion went rigid for a minute as something flared in the air. He and Lestrange looked at each other but shook their heads. It must’ve been their imagination. Nott was curiously looking at Tom now. Avery was looking at Tom and Abraxas warily.

Crabbe and Goyle charged towards him blindly and suddenly all of them found themselves thrown back by an invisible force.

 

They landed twenty feet away from Tom Riddle.  

 

Ellair, Sylvester and Godfrey could not get up. Not only were they thrown away they were in a body bind spell too. They knew Orion and Abraxas were in same state.

Abraxas was scared now. 

Orion's eyes would have widened in horror if they couldv'e. He knew that the magic he had sensed before was coming from the young boy in front of him.

Crabbe, Goyle and Mulciber were unconscious.

 

Before they could do anything, Flitwick and Abbott came and started fussing over Tom. They didn’t even spare them a glance. They could hear everything though. 

 

“Tom, sweetie, what happened?” Charlotte looked at the eight and gave them such a cold glare the five who were awake would have flinched if they could move.

The head of Hufflepuff house was usually very sweet to everyone. But now she was looking at them like they were scum of the earth.

 

The half goblin professor was trying to calm down Tom. He knew the boy had thrown them away with his magic.

Tom controlled himself and let go of his anger. He looked up at the nice professor and told her the truth. He hadn’t done anything wrong. He had no reason to hide the truth.

Let these fools suffer.

 

“They cornered me professor. Then Abraxas Malfoy called me a mudblood. Then the seventh years advanced on me and I did what I had to do to protect myself. I let my magic take over me. Last whole year everyone from my house was sneering at me and another boy and girl. I didn’t do anything since they hadn’t done anything more at the time.”

 

But now they went too far. I will not be looked down upon or called a mudblood by trolls and inbred fools was left unsaid.

 

Abbott was turning red by the minute while Flitwick was looking at them like they were bugs.

 

He came to them and waved his hand and they were free.

The five got up immediately and took deep breaths. The three who were unconscious were now stirring. When they got up, Mulciber took out his wand and pointed it at Tom.

“You filthy little mudblood, how dare you attack me? Me a Mulciber? A pureblood?”

 

The fourth years cringed as they realized the idiot hadn’t noticed Flitwick. And had completely ignored the herbology professor. 

 

Before he could do anything though his wand had vanished. The dumb boy looked around and paled as he noticed Merrythought standing with Dumbledore on the other side of corridor.

Both the professors were glaring at them.

Merryhthought did not tolerate anyone’s bullshit. Dumbledore was fair and was only harsh to students when they used magic to hurt fellow students or called them derogatory slurs.

The two slowly walked over to Tom and Abbott told them everything. Flitwick was nodding beside her. Dumbledore turned to them and gave them such a cold glare that the eight flinched where they stood. This was one of those times.

 

Merrythought had had enough.

 

“Hundred points from Slytherin for your actions. And detention for two weeks.  All of you.”

 

She then turned to Tom and caressed his face as a mother would.

 

“It’s alright, Tom. It’s alright. Let’s go and have some hot chocolate.”

 

Abbott and Merrythought took Tom Riddle with them. Dumbledore just shook his head at them and went on his way muttering about foolish children with outdated beliefs.

 

Flitwick was not done with them. None of them had the courage to look the little professor in the eye so they kept their head down.

“You should be ashamed of yourselves. Ganging up on a twelve year old. Calling him a mudblood. Whatever his blood may be…it’s thousand times better than yours.”

 

They all flinched as they heard that. The seventh years clenched their hands but didn’t say anything. Lestrange, Black and Nott were only thinking one thing.

That is no ordinary twelve year old.

Avery just wanted to go and sleep. Because of his loser housemates now he’ll be doing servants stuff. He was not going near the brat again. There was something about the brat that did not sit well with him.

Abraxas wanted out. Whatever the boy was he was surely not a muggleborn. It was as if he had been waiting for one of his housemates to lose their temper just so he could teach them a lesson.

“You’ll be cleaning the dungeons and the trophy rooms. Now get out of my sight. And fifty points more for not apologizing to Tom.”

At that they all looked up. Flitwick just shook his head.

“I know you all. You will never apologise to that nice boy. Now begone.”

 

The seventh years ran from the corridor while the fourth years quietly walked back.

 

They, the supreme purebloods got detention and cleaning duty.

And Tom Riddle got hot chocolate and affection of all professors.

 

* * *

 

 

Tom happily drank his drink while the four professors talked amongst themselves. The matron had checked him and ruffled his hair saying he was absolutely okay. He liked Elizabeth Prewett. She was a great healer. He will perfect his healing abilities too. Healing magic was great.

Slughorn came then and he was not smiling for once. Tom heard him saying that he had taken care of the troublemakers. And had also taken hundred points from them. 

After a while all five of them approached him and asked again how he was.

 

“I am okay,” Tom answered. He was fine.

Now no one will look down on him.

 

Merrythought smiled at him and Charlotte came and sat down beside him.

“Don’t let them get to you, Tom. You are a brilliant wizard.”

“Charlotte is right, Tom. You are an exceptional wizard. Just try to control your temper,” Dumbledore smiled at him as he said it.

 

Tom smiled sheepishly at that. “I will. I don’t want to fight anyone. I just want to study and be great. I want to be known. That’s all. ”

 

At that all five professors smiled. After a while Mrs Prewitt  came with a kind smile on her face and told him to rest here for today.

“And, sixty points to Slytherin for teaching those idiotic children that bullying will not be tolerated in Hogwarts. Neither name calling.”

The professors nodded in agreement.

 

 

After that things were too calm. Tom was on constant vigilance, he knew this was a calm before the storm.

But, surprisingly, nothing happened. Three of his fourth years bullies looked warily at him whenever they crossed paths while Abraxas and Avery avoided him like the plague. Others still sneered but didn’t do anything. Well, sneering was not hurting him and he ignored those losers. Maybe their face will remain stuck like that forever if they don’t stop sneering so much. It will only add to their looks. They weren’t good looking to begin with.

The seventh years didn’t even look at him. The trolls flinched whenever they saw him. Good.

 

Like that the year passed and he went back to the orphanage. He was still wary of going to that place. It held nothing but bad memories not to mention it was dangerous too. There was a war going on in muggle world too. At least Hogwarts was safe. He didn’t want to die and he had no qualms in admitting that to himself. Nor was he delusional enough to think he could stop the Nazis.

He hoped for the best as the train left him on the platform.

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

Tom wanted to know about his family, he knew he wasn’t a muggleborn. He was special and he was determined to find something about them.

 

He’d found a very old tattered wizard genealogy book but it wasn’t his priority as now he was taking every additional subject except for muggle studies. He knew everything about non magic people. Why would he waste his time learning about them?

Now, Care of magical creatures was interesting. He was really interested in vampires. Immortality. Youth. Yeah, he likes them alright.

His education was going to help him be great not his bloodline. He was more than his bloodline. He will prove that. The bloodline might help in many ways but otherwise he will prove his own worth. It’s not like he can just sit and do nothing and think: oh look, I am from this and this bloodline. And that’s it. That’s my life. Do nothing and just boast about my family.

That’s a very lazy way of going about one’s life and Tom Marvolo Riddle was not lazy. He craved knowledge. He wanted to know everything about magic and its elements.

 

He at least knew he was the related to one of the founders. The hat’s cryptic words had assured him of that.

And Salazar Slytherin had been a parselmouth. He’d found that in his search and the symbol of his house was a…snake. The man wasn’t subtle at all.

It wasn’t that hard to put two and two together.

 

He would love to see his housemates terrified expressions if they ever learned he was descendant of Salazar Slytherin. They would rue the day they had decided to bully him. He knew he must be a half blood and from what he’d seen the inbred fools thought even half-bloods were beneath them.

He didn’t care about blood purity. Muggles… he knew were scum but not all. He wasn’t stupid enough to think that every human on earth was rotten. He wasn’t a mental.

In all they weren’t even a blip on his radar because he just didn’t care about them. He was a wizard. They weren’t. Matter done and over with. He was above them. Chapter closed.

Now muggleborns… they were just there. He’d seen some were terrified of purebloods like his housemates but he hadn’t offered any help. Because he just didn’t care and they would have to be strong on their own if they wanted to survive.

 

Life was cruel.

 

The weak die, the strong survive. That’s the rule of life. Of nature.

 

Half-bloods… which he most probably was since he’d found no mention of a Riddle family in wizarding genealogy were fine.

 

Most of them were neutral. He wasn’t gonna hate himself. He was great, brilliant and charming. His magic was exceptional.

 

Purebloods…very few might be okay. He hadn’t encountered anyone good though. Most of them were bigots.

 

They were as bad as those muggles who’d burned his kind…their kind in the middle ages. They were like two sides of a coin. At least muggles weren’t into inbreeding.

They were horrid in another way.

The muggles killed young men who were involved with each other. Cases of women who were involved with each other were few but he’d seen homosexual’s men beaten to death.

 

Distasteful. Cruel. Another example of humanity’s cruelty.

 

He was sure no God had said anything like that. If someone likes a woman, fine. If someone likes a man. Fine. If someone does not like anyone. Fine. What the hell was so difficult about such a simple concept? He found the whole liking people…weird. To be intimate with someone like that. He didn’t like it. It was…gross.

 

At least wizarding society did not look down on same sex relationships. Then he remembered the interbreeding of sacred twenty eight. Treating everyone like filth. Yeah. They were both bad in their own way.

 

He was sure his housemates didn’t know that every creature was unique. That the ones they thought were monsters weren’t like that.

 

Vampires were practically immortal and had eternal youth. Now they were his favourite. He’d search more on them. Werewolves were different in another way. They had immense strength and magic but the process was very painful. Why subject yourself to torture once a month?

 

He disliked Goblins though. They were ugly as hell and  were vindictive little shits. He’d read all about Godric Gryffindor’s sword.

Yeah right.

Blaming a man who was famous for being brave and noble was really giving their false tale credibility. As if he could ever steal a sword.

They were good for guarding the wizard gold though.  Well, whatever. He didn’t care about them. If he ever wanted an account he knew how to scare them.

 

House elves had magic which even wizards didn’t. Now that was incredible. And they were little funny too.

 

Dragons were majestic. Plain and simple.

 

Phoenixes were fascinating. Immortal fire bird.

 

Unicorns were…adorable. He’d seen some foals in the forest and he had been the only one they had allowed to come near them. They were sweet. His housemates, both girls and boys had glared at him for that too. Unicorns usually allowed females near them but they also let boys near them. It wasn't very common but it did happen. 

 

Why the hell they were blaming him for that, he didn’t know or care. Was it his fault they were deemed unworthy in the majestic beast’s eyes?

 

Though his bullies from fifth years had turned red when they’d looked at him and the adult unicorns. Huh…they must have been coming down with something.

 

It had happened on a Hogsmeade weekend. He had decided to stay back with his teacher and feed Thestrals, Unicorns and Griffins.

 

Thestrals scared him a little but he understood why he could see them. They were gentle creatures and very useful for long distance carriage rides.

 

Orion, Abraxas, Ellair and Godfrey had turned very red when they’d looked at him feeding the adult unicorns. They had ran towards the gate very quickly. Abraxas and Ellair had looked back twice before leaving for Hogsmeade.

That was weird.

 

The foals had been playing around him while he was feeding the adults.

 

Thestrals were unique. He was able to see them and he knew why that was. He could understand death. He was scared but he could understand it. He had seen people die outside the orphanage.

 

Filius had patted his head when he had asked him about them. Only a handful of students in school could see them pulling the carriages.

 

Griffins were gorgeous. He loved them.

 

He absolutely agreed with the notion that wizards should live in secret. Because non magic outnumbered the magics and he knew what it was like to be different.

Humans fear the unknown. It was simple as that.

He remembered his childhood, the fights, the sneers, Mrs. Cole looking at him suspiciously every time. As if he was a monster.

Excusing other kid’s actions and making him out to be a devil reincarnate. Getting weird doctors to look at him. Well, they were scared enough of him to not come near him. He used to glare at them and that used to stop those doctors from coming near him.

 

That’s what happens when you are different, it’s always, always your fault.

 

So, no, he had no love for muggles, muggleborns, half-bloods or purebloods. All he knew was that he was special and he will make a name for himself. That he was descended from one of the founders was an honour in itself. To be descendant of one of the founders of the greatest wizarding school, Hogwarts was a great honour.

 

He was sure at the time there was no inbreeding among wizards. Must have contributed to their exceptional magic.

He will hone his magic and do great things. That’s all that mattered to him.

 

The professors loved him and were able to teach him whenever he was free. He wasn’t required to be in all classes. He was good at everything.

 

Yes, he was very good at flying too. He did that when he wanted to be free. Broomsticks were cool. He loved flying.

 

But he didn’t want to go into quidditch so he kept that to himself. His house mates had glared at him for this too.

 

Though Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had applauded him from the stands. Evan’s enthusiasm was clearly visible. He was cheering for him the loudest. Two brave Gryffindors had asked him to join his house team. They were very impressed with his skills and had wanted to play with him.

But he’d politely told them that flying was a recreation activity for him.

 

He was working on a spell which will make him fly even without a broom.

 

Professor Sparrow would love to see it. The wizard was a good natured fellow and was always fair whenever the matches took place.

 

* * *

 

 

Tom passed with flying colours again and just like his first year and second year he received medals and trophies for his exceptional work. He was the first student in centuries to be awarded such an honour every year. His name was already in history books. His greatness was showing.

 

Just like that his third year passed peacefully. He had no idea what would happen near the end of it.

* * *

 

 

He had taken Armando Dippet’s permission to go to Hogsmeade before going back to orphanage. He’d wanted to buy some potion ingredients. The headmaster, like his professors was fond of him and had allowed him to go.

After getting the potion ingredients he was about to go back when he ran into someone. The man helped him up and gathered his things. He was about to thank the man when he noticed the man was looking at him with a very deep frown.

 

“Sir, is something the matter?” Tom asked the man in front of him.

Bob Ogden continued to look at the devastatingly handsome boy in front of him. He just couldn’t believe his eyes. The boy looked so much like that rude man, Tom Riddle in Little Hangleton that he just didn’t know what to say. Hell, he could say it was miniature Tom Riddle standing in front of him.

Was the kid in front of him that man’s son? But he knew Riddles were non magic folk. Nor was there any trace of underage magic in that area. What was going on here?

Tom Riddle had been attacked by Morfin Gaunt years ago. Marvolo had done nothing but sneer when he’d brought the matter to his attention. The whole family was deranged. At least the son and father definitely were.

The daughter was…weak and fragile. But then what else could he expect. The way that man had treated his own daughter.

 

Gaunt family was the epitome example of domestic abuse. Well, they were thorough inbreds what was he expecting. He was sure Morfin had been insulting his sister in the snake language.

They spoke in tongues. He hadn’t understood what they were saying at first. He’d learnt later that they were speaking snake tongue.

 

Explains the strange fascination the weird son had with them.

 

Nah, that git just liked to torture the poor animals.

 

It was good that the deranged fellow had served a long time in Azkaban. His sentence had been long. His father had been released after a year but had died not long after that.

 

The daughter mustv'e died while living alone in that bloody shack. Maybe she had committed suicide as soon as the father and son were taken away by the authorities. No one in their right mind would want to live with those two monsters. Or maybe she ran away ? Who knows. 

 

The boy in front of him had to be related to that arrogant fellow. He still remembered Tom Riddle’s laughs as he’d ran out of Gaunt shack years ago. Him and that horrid woman who was with him on the horse. Laughing at him as if it was funny.

 

Tom was getting irritated by the minute. The man in front of him was looking at him as he was some kind of a show piece.

“Sir, is everything alright?”

 

Bob shook his head. He should say something.

“Nothing kiddo. You just reminded me of someone.”

 

Tom went rigid as he heard that. Familiar? How was it possible? Did the man know someone from his family?

 

“How is that possible?”

 

Bob didn’t answer but continued to look at Tom. Finally after a while he asked the kid his name.

 

“Tom Marvolo Riddle,” Tom answered with narrowed eyes.

All breath left Bob after hearing that.

 

What was going on? Did… did Riddle marry the young woman, that fragile woman in that shack. Daughter of Marvolo Gaunt, Merope Gaunt.

Bob Ogden sighed then motioned to the bar, Three Broomsticks. This was really…unexpected.

 

They got two butterbeers and Bob told Tom everything. He noticed with each passing minute the boy was growing paler. How was it even possible when the child was already so white?

After two hours they left the pub. Ogden gave his home address to Tom if he ever wanted to talk. He didn’t know what to make of the boy in front of him. The child had just told him he had grown up in Wool’s Orphanage and that his mother had died. He’d thought his father had died too. That wasn’t the case. He hoped the boy would come to his home. His wife would be happy to see a child.

Maybe he could show the child his memories. That might help him. Merope Gaunt must’ve died. And knowing Tom Riddle…yeah, he couldn’t see that little git taking care of a child.

 

* * *

 

 

Tom went back on shaky legs. So, he had a family. And by the sounds of it his father was a loser and his mother….the fragile abused woman Ogden was talking about.

He’d told him that his father was not magic. And the woman’s family could speak parseltongue. His uncle and grandfather sounded lovely. Really great.

 

Inbred assholes.

 

So they were beating his mother.

 

He wanted to vomit.

 

Why did his mother name him after such horrible people? They sounded like Mrs. Cole.

 

Tom stopped for a minute as he reached the gates of Hogwarts.

 

“So mother was a witch…or a squib?”

 

Tom felt as if someone had dropped him in the Black lake.

 

“Why did she die then? Why couldn’t she live for me?” his voice was soft as he asked himself the question which had always been on his mind.

 

He clenched his hands and smoothened his expression to that of cold indifference. It was his default expression.

 

He went back to orphanage with a new resolve.

 

Next year he was going to find out everything about his family; why they’d left him in that wretched place. His room’s window shook as he a thought made itself at home in his mind. Did his father abandon him?

 

That man will be sorry if that was the case.

 

First he will visit Bob Ogden’s house.


	6. Chapter 6

In the holidays Tom went to Bob’s place. He’d investigated the man first in Diagon Alley. No way was he going to someone’s place without knowing it was safe. And he kept his wand with him.

But his fears were unwarranted. Ogden was a good man and his wife was really kind. He learned they had two kids.

 

After a delicious lunch, Bob took him to the garden where the Pensieve was. He’d read about them but had never seen them in person. They were quite expensive.

Bob deposited all the memories he had of the Gaunts and Riddle then looked at Tom.

 

“I’ll go in first. You just have to follow.”

“Alright,” Tom said.

 

Bob dove in the swirling silver mist. Tom followed him with clenched sweaty hands. He was nervous.

 

Tom was standing outside a horrible house. No, more like a shack he corrected himself. It looked like it belonged to a tramp.

He could hear the voices coming from inside. Bob drew his attention and pointed at the gate.

Tom grimaced as he saw what was there. It was a dead snake.

How distasteful.

 

“I can’t understand some things they are saying since they are speaking in parseltongue. Well, you’ll see.”

 

Bob moved towards the shack following his memory self. Tom did not tell him he could speak snake language. He was under no obligation to tell anyone anything.

 

After two hours they came out of the pensieve.

 

Tom didn’t know whether he should cry or laugh. Bob’s wife, Martha was looking at him with a sad smile on her face. Tom wanted to be angry but he couldn’t. She and Bob were not to be blamed.

 

He thanked Bob and went back to Diagon Alley. He called the Knight Bus and went back to the orphanage.

He shut himself in his room and went to sleep.

 

He woke up in the middle of the night and looked out of the window.

He didn’t know what to think. He didn’t know what he should think.

 

He’d flinched when he had seen the handsome man on the horse. There was no doubt that was his father. He’d understood everything the two men in the house had been saying. They were making fun of Bob too. As if the little monsters had any right to laugh at Ogden.

 

Slytherin’s descendants they maybe but they were pretty useless. His grandfather seemed to care more about his precious ring and Salazar’s locket than his own daughter. What a vile man.

 

His uncle was another great personality.

Sadistic asshole.

 

His uncle had attacked his father. His grandfather who looked like a monkey didn’t give two shits.

 

His mother had fancied his father.

 

His father didn’t look like he had any sort of affections for his mother. In fact he thought her family was mental and very much beneath him. He was riding the horse with some woman. His mother had been…in a very pitiful state.

 

His grandfather and uncle were monsters.

 

“Why would he marry her? Did she douse him with something? Was she a witch? Could it be love potions?”

 

As soon as he said it he felt ill. He put a hand on his mouth.

 

Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in the world. Despite its name it was no better than a drug. It changed the drinker’s perception. The drinker was practically braindead.  It didn’t matter what the person who drank the potion thought. They would be enamoured with the one whoever wanted them. It was no better than those unforgivable curses.

 

Hell, unforgivables might be good for torturing assholes like his uncle and grandpa.

No potion could create affection. Care. Tenderness.

 

The feelings the doused person had were a lie. Nothing else.

 

He didn’t know the whole story but what he did…

 

Did his mother force his father to marry her? Doused him with those rape drugs …

 

There was no better term for that repulsive potion.

 

Marvolo had gone to prison and Ogden had told him the dates. It all made a horrible sense. It matched with his birth. Did she stop giving his father potions one day? Or did his father realize he was being drugged?

 

For the first time in his life something like tears started gathering in his eyes.

 

Before they could fall, he willed them away. No, he will first find out everything. If it was true…well, his father could have been humane enough to see that he grew in a better place. But from what he’d seen of the man…well. No, he will find everything now.

He didn’t know who he hated more.

His mother. His father. Himself. Fate. Destiny. God.

 

He didn’t know who he pitied more.

His father who was practically raped by his mother or his mother who was abused so much that she resorted to something like that horrid potion to have affections of his father. To have some normalcy in her horrid life. The normalcy was an illusion though. It wasn’t real.

 

Or himself. He hadn’t done anything but he’s the one who had suffered at the hands of Mrs. Cole and other kids. Treated like filth for being different. For being quiet. For not having cried when he was an infant.

 

What did he do to deserve this?

 

If his father had deliberately left him in that state…

He will make his life a hell. The people his father hated, vagrants, beggars... he will make him live in those conditions.

 

Death is too soft a punishment and he had no desire to sully his hands with their blood. Muggles, muggleborns, half-bloods, purebloods…they were all beneath him. Everyone was cruel, filthy and selfish.

 

He will show everyone despite being born out of ….whatever it was he will never be like them.

 

His magic will speak for itself.

 

He was Slytherin's heir. That was clear.

 

He’d read about the Chamber of Secrets. Now, he will find it and he will not let the so called monster kill anyone. In fact he will make it his pet. Yes. He was pretty sure it must be some creature related to a snake.

 

Salazar Slytherin was way too obsessed with them. But he will create his own legacy. He didn’t need Salazar’s pet to go and kill muggleborns. What a rubbish goal for a fabulous magical creature.

 

No, the beast will be his friend and confidante. That will terrify everyone anyway. Salazar’s great pet will be his friend. Yes. That’s what he’ll do.

 

Snakes had been his first friends who’d shown him kindness. He liked them. He didn’t like anyone. He liked his professors and respected them. He even trusted them a little but he had genuine affection for snakes and his eagle, Garuda. He liked Fawkes too. The phoenix was adorable.

 

Snakes were his friends when he was a child and all alone. He cared for them. He had no doubt he could make the creature in the chamber his. It was either a dragon, a basilisk or a runespoor. He was going with the basilisk. It made more sense.

 

Dragons were too obvious and Salazar didn’t seem like the man who would do obvious. It had to be a basilisk. Both dragons and basilisk could live for hundreds of years. Yes, it was a basilisk. Runespoor was not out of the question but something was telling him it was a freaking basilisk. It was King of serpents. Why wouldn't it be a basilisk?

 

He will release it in Black lake so it could be free. He could eat and be happy. At least someone should be.

 

Because now he’d seen everyone was horrible. Muggleborns were weak, yes they were treated horribly but they had no backbone. They couldn’t stand up for themselves. Half-bloods usually were sensible but neutral. Purebloods …more than half of them were insane and arrogant. Inbred idiots. Muggles, well most of them were scum.

 

* * *

 

This time everyone in the school noticed that something had angered Tom Marvolo Riddle. The teachers asked him and were worried for the kid but in the end they just got angry with themselves that they couldn’t keep the child away from the orphanage.

 

Everyone knew how the war was progressing in the non-magic world and wizarding world. It was terrible.

WWII had brought nothing but death and despair to the non-magic world. All because of one horrid man.

 

Same was true for their world. Gellert Grindelwald thought muggles should be subjugated and had gone on a mad killing spree.

 

The teachers were in talks with Armando Dippet who in turn was talking to the governors to let the orphan kids stay in the village of Hogsmeade. They had talked to Three Broomsticks owner about the food and lodgings. The owner, Jean Davies was a kind man. He didn’t even want any sort of money. He was happy to keep the children safe and away from war.

 

The governors just needed to make sure all the documents were in order and ward the place so they could allow the kids to stay in the village. Very few orphans were there and one of them was Tom Riddle.

 

* * *

 

Dumbledore was feeling guilty by the minute. Grindelwald was not stopping. It was as if he had gone mad. He was worried for the child too. Tom had been content these last three years. He didn’t want the child to be bitter. He thought the child was feeling better. That he had decided to ignore the horrible matron and other kids.

His fury could be devastating for everyone but most of all for himself. He hoped the child would feel better. No child deserved to have so much anger and fury in them. No children should be happy and safe.

His sister should have been happy and safe. No. It was time he got over his fear and faced Grindelwald.

 

Easier thought than done.

 

But he will stop that man. He was the only one who can. It wasn’t that he was arrogant. It was simple truth. There was also the matter of …the Elder Wand.

 

* * *

 

Around Halloween, Tom turned to his usual self. His housemates were downright terrified of him now more so than any other house. Nobody cared what his blood was anymore. No one wanted to cross him.

 

Abraxas was mortified that he had developed a crush on Tom Riddle and made extra sure to keep his feelings to himself. He knew the whole school felt something for him. He literally had everything.  But everyone was afraid of him.

 

Tom had an air about him which made it impossible for anyone to approach. He was polite whenever asked a question but anyone could see the boy wanted no conversations. He only talked to that one Hufflepuff, Evan Scamander.

 

Otherwise, nothing. He was aloof, intelligent and extremely handsome and Abraxas was sure that Lestrange and Orion had also developed a crush on him. Hell, even Nott sometimes blushed when he looked at Tom.

 

Avery found the whole thing hilarious. His suspicions were true. There was something very different about Tom Riddle.

 

Alphard had teased Orion about it a lot. Orion had just said he would marry Tom Riddle in a heartbeat no matter what his blood was. He had no desire to even be in the same room as Walburga. Even muggleborns were better than that monstrous woman. Alphard had sighed at that. Walburga was…horrible.

 

Cygnus had silently agreed with Orion. Though his situation was no better. Druella was not a saint.

 

He cursed his parents for betrothing them. She was arrogant and couldn’t shut up. He didn’t like talking and he hated intimacy with women. It just repulsed him. Why couldn’t he have Evan Rosier as his fiancé?

 

But no one understood why Tom had returned to his usual self was. Teachers were happy that Tom was okay now. They all liked him a lot and didn’t want the child to be sad or upset for any reason.

 

What they didn’t know was that he had found the chamber of secrets and that’s why he had calmed down.  And boy was it easy to find.


	7. Chapter 7

Tom knew all secret doorways in and out of school. Room of requirement was amazing and it helped him a lot. It was now his favourite place.

 

He’d found the room in his third year while coming back from Dippet’s office during lunch. He’d just felt hungry and had not realized he had walked the same corridor three times. There was still time to meet Dippet, so he had been walking to and fro while trying to perfect his flying spell.

 

That’s how he had found the elusive room. He loved it.

 

He’d invented a spell that would tell him about the location of anything related to snakes in the castle.

 

The spell had been very useful. It had pointed at Slytherin dungeons and had pointed down. That was easy enough to solve. Beneath the castle was only drainage system, stones and rocks. Drainage was related to bathrooms and washrooms.

They were also the least likely place anyone would want to go.

 

He then used it on every floor where the bathrooms were. And he hit the jackpot on second floor.

 

It was all very gross since he had to ward the bathroom so no one could come in. Not to mention he had a bubble head charm at all times and made sure to ask the elves to wash his robes thoroughly. He had no idea why his ancestor thought hiding the chamber’s entrance in a girls bathroom was a good idea. He was getting less and less impressed with the man. It can be said it was ingenious but it was dirty and unhygienic as well.

 

Except for his magic and ability to talk to snakes, Salazar was turning out to be real loser.

* * *

 

 

Shesh Naga was his. Salazar’s prized creature was a basilisk which he’d bred himself.  He gave himself a mental pat for being right. He was usually right. But it was nice to see proof now and then.

The man was way too into snakes. He was bloody obsessed with them. Did he want to become a snake or something? What a horrid life goal…

 

Apparently Salazar had not even given the basilisk a name. The basilisk was very put out by it. Shesh Naga was nice. His favourite activity was napping and rabbits were his favourite meal. He’d conjured ten of them for the great snake. Shesha had a good time chasing them all around the chamber and eating them.

 

He had been very pleased with Tom because of that.

 

Tom had also cleaned the chamber. The place stank.

 

Shesh Naga had also told him he was just called the "king of serpents" or "my friend" by Salazar. The Basilisk had sounded sarcastic when he'd said that. Tom had named him then and there. He had given him the best name. Nothing but best for his friends. It was kind of ironic he had given his eagle the name, Garuda. Both of his pets were named after revered beings. Of course their names had to be best. They were Tom Riddle’s friends. They would have the best names. They were named after sacred nay spiritual beings blessed by the Gods themselves.

 

He had to introduce Garuda and Shesha. So, what if they were natural enemies. They were his and they will be friends.

 

Tom had also politely asked Shesha for his shedded skin. It was the first thing which he had seen when he’d entered the chamber. He knew how priceless it was.  Basilisk venom was extremely rare and its skin was…

He was sure there were only a handful of people who’d been lucky enough to see it.

 

Shesh Naga had readily agreed since it was useless to him. But it was very useful for Tom. He could sell it and have some bloody money. The fund was nice and his teachers were accommodating but it would be nice to have some income. And Shesha was his. He was the Heir of Slytherin after all.  Basilisk skin would be worth a good amount of galleons. Hell, if he was being honest it was priceless.

He needed to go to Gringotts and open an account.

 

He would be rolling in galleons after that. Which meant a good house when he was through Hogwarts, good food, good clothes and good magical artifacts. Abundance of potion ingredients so he could create Felix Felicis for rare times. He knew the prolonged use would make a person lazy, toxic and arrogant.

 

He could visit the world, he knew what he wanted to do after school. He wanted to teach DADA and he wanted to become an Unspeakable. He wanted to work in Department of Mysteries.

 

He will have everything needed to make the Philosopher’s Stone. After Nicolas Flamel, he’ll be the one to do it. He will do it.

 

His Alchemy work was already being praised by his teachers. They haven’t had a student like him in Hogwarts. He is the most brilliant student Hogwarts had ever seen and he knew he will remain that for eternity. 

 

He’ll be making the stone in a way so that he’ll have his youth too. Yes, Elixir of life was great but he wanted his youth too.

 

Experimentation on Unicorn horns and Vampire Blood should do that. He’ll have to do it carefully since unicorns were pure beings while vampires were not. He would have to mix it with phoenix tears and some basilisk venom might not be too bad. He’ll have to experiment a lot.

 

Then the potion would have to blessed by magic. Samhain, Yule or Walpurgis Night might be good for that. So many things to do.

 

But that was a goal after he was done with his seven years of education.

 

Shesh Naga had licked his cheek when he’d told him of his plans.

 

* * *

 

He also practiced Dark Arts though he stayed away from creepy and fishy ones. He had no desire to fracture himself or hurt his soul. In his search of immortality he’d come across Horcruxes and had put the book back in its shelves. No way in hell was he going to delve in some suspicious seedy rituals. He couldn’t give two shits about killing but he didn’t see the reason to do so.

 

Not to mention his soul would be mutilated. No way in hell was he going to do that. No wonder only one person had tried that rubbish. Must be deranged. What with a grande name like Herpo the Foul. Fucking weird.

 

Dark magic was great but one had to be cautious while doing it. He knew his eyes got red glint in them sometimes.  His natural eye colour was grey. Though they were so dark, they almost looked black.

He’d taken to wearing permanent glamour on them and only let it fade when he was sleeping. He’d thought he could come out when he started working in DOM. Unspeakables were…not exactly normal.

His eyes usually got a red tinge when he was angry.

 

He was sure his fabulous maternal family had no money. The little shits must have gambled it away. They were rotten to the core. And he had no need of his father’s money.

The man had abandoned him.

Yes, if his theory was right, what had happened to him was horrible but he could have made an effort to see that Tom was not raised in that hellhole. He hadn’t.

 

* * *

 

 

When he did introduce his friends, they were wary. But he had told Shesha to be on his best behavior. As months went by they started becoming close.

 

He was sitting by the Black lake with disillusionment and Notice Me Not charm casted over Shesh Naga. It was good it was a Hogsmeade weekend, so he was utterly alone. But he was always vigilant. So he’d casted the charms and was lying in the lush green grass while Garuda and Shesha were playing in the lake.

They were having a good time.

 

It reminded him of the time he’d gone to Loch Ness in the holidays. Kelpie really was very sweet. He and Garuda had also gotten along well.

 

Sometimes he thought the birds liked him.  Fawkes, Dumbledore’s phoenix usually made a point to nip his ear affectionately and sometime nuzzled his cheek during transfiguration.

Sometimes he just used to sit on his shoulder. The whole bloody classroom had looked ready to faint when it had happened the first time.

 

It had started in his third year and it was continuing.

 

He had seen Garuda and Fawkes flying together too.

 

That had been a beautiful sight.

 

He was was shaken out of his reverie as he noticed movement.

He saw the half giant Hagrid going into the forbidden forest with some... animal in his hands.

 

Now, he had nothing against the big Gryffindor but he was sure the dunderhead would get himself expelled one day. He could see the boy was attached to all animals but he was too careless and reckless. He had been raising werewolf cubs under his bed.

 

Now that was just dumb.

 

The boy should be happy he was getting educated but he was gambling it for whatever it was he was doing.

 

Maybe he could send in an anonymous letter to Dumbledore. Yeah, that might be good. His friends were intelligent and he could talk to Shesha. But magical creatures needed to be handled carefully.

Otherwise the school would be in danger and he had no wish to go to that orphanage forever because of Hagrid. The naïve boy was sure to let in another creature in school because of his bleeding heart.

Hagrid should study care of magical creatures so he could become an expert. But the boy was doing dumb stuff. Yeah, the letter was a good idea.

 

* * *

 

 

He decided to visit his “father” during the Christmas break. He had the Knight bus pick him up and he could use magic. Not that he really needed to worry about it. He knew how to remove the trace.

 

He transfigured himself into a young blonde muggle he had seen in Little Hangleton. Yes, his magic was exceptional that even at his age he could perform such advanced magic. This was his second time here. 

He had heard the villager’s story and wasn’t really surprised by it. It was townspeople favourite topic of gossip even after a decade and a half.

 

Tom Riddle had eloped with tramp’s daughter. It had been a huge scandal, son of the squire running off like that. Seven months later his father had stumbled back muttering about being bewitched and enchantments.

 

Majority of the people believed that. He couldn’t find it in himself to be angry at the villagers. It was the truth. But he needed to hear what his father had to say. His father’s well-being depended on it.

 

* * *

 

 

First, he went to the Gaunt shack. The place was as bad as it was in the memory. In fact it looked even worse.  Morfin had come stumbling to open the door but before his wretched uncle could do anything he had stupefied the man wandlessly. He then took his wand since he will not be doing any devious magic with his wand in his father’s house.

 

He also used legilimency on his uncle and saw everything.

It was…bad. 

His grandfather and uncle were horrible. They’d treated his mother worse than a servant.

 

His uncle had attacked his father many times and took pleasure in informing Marvolo that his mother fancied Riddle.

He saw the same memories again which he’d seen in Ogden’s pensieve. He also saw Morfin crying when he discovered his father had died in the shack.

 

Weird, the little bitch had been wishing for his mother’s death but was mourning the monkey man. Filth.

 

Morfin still went out to fight like a hooligan ranting about his slut of a sister who had ran off with Slytherin’s locket. That it served his sister right that she had been abandoned by Riddle. Riddle had come back and she wasn't anywhere near him.

 

Tom wanted to kill the man for thinking like that about his mother.

 

He obliviated the man and went to the Riddle manor.

 

* * *

 

 

It was opened by an old man who was reluctant to let him in but one spell on him and he was out like a light.

 

His father and his grandparents were the only ones in the dining room.

 

With a quick charm he got that no one else was in the house at the moment. He quickly warded the place so no one could come in while he was interrogating his beloved family.

 

He changed back into himself and entered the dining room.

 

At once the three stopped eating. As they looked at him their eyes widened and blood drained from their face.

 

His father stood up but staggered and fainted.

 

Tom looked at his grandparents and smirked.

“Huh…that was quite some welcome.”

 

His grandmother hesitantly spoke and he could hear the fear and terror in her voice.

“Please…”

 

Tom turned to them with doe eyes.

 

“Oh dear. What are you thinking I’ll do grandma?”

 

His grandfather closed his eyes as he heard that. His father had still not gotten up.

 

Tom wordlessly shot a spell at his grandparents so they were stuck to their chairs. Their eyes widened in horror when they realized they couldn’t get up.

 

He went to his father and sat down on one knee gracefully. He tapped the unpleasant wand of his uncle at him and murmured, Enervate.

 

His father slowly opened his eyes and he could admit it to himself his father’s beauty was astounding. Of course he was even more beautiful than his father.

 

Hmm…it wouldn’t be too hard to convince people he had some vampire blood. He will be immortal. He knew what he had to do to achieve that goal. He will achieve it.

 

At once his grandparents started shouting.

 

“He did this…Tom...”

 

“We are stuck, son. That boy did something with his stick.”

 

“You’d told us that Merope was lying. But you do have a son, Tom. He is standing in front of us.”

 

Tom Riddle Sr looked at Tom with fear. The child…witch child…his child.

 

So his wife hadn’t been lying.

 

_He had gotten away from her after months. He didn’t even know why he was with her. All he knew was that he had drank water which she’d offered one day. After that he could not bear to be apart from her. He was enamored with her. He had made out with her, then they had ran away from the village. They got married and stayed together. He just wanted to look at her. Be with her. Care for her. Nothing mattered except her._

 

_After months he woke up and for a minute he didn’t realise why he was with Marvolo Gaunt’s daughter._

 

_He remembered the past months and a shiver ran down his spine. He didn’t care for Merope. Why did he marry her? Why was he convinced she was it for him? It was like he was obsessed with her. Only she mattered._

_But he didn’t care for her._

 

_He attempted to leave but Merope started crying and told him she was pregnant._

 

_He didn’t want to believe her but they had done the deed. Yes, he he had been with her intimately. He’d only ever been with her. He was a virgin. He’d had girlfriends but he had never done anything with anyone._

 

_But how could he believe her? She had just admitted that she hoped he would stay for the sake of the baby. That she had drugged him with magic love potions._

 

_He wanted to vomit._

 

_He wanted to be away from her._

 

_He had been raped by Merope Gaunt._

 

_He wasn’t a kind man. He was rude, sarcastic but he-he wasn’t a monster._

 

_No, she must be lying. Maybe everything had been an illusion._

 

_He didn’t want to look at her._

_He ran away from her._

 

_His parents asked him why he had ran off. He just told them he had been bewitched. That Merope was a witch of some kind and had drugged him then said she was mother of his kid._

 

_He didn’t know whether she was lying or not. He didn’t want anything to do with her._

 

_His mother tried to come near him and he had flinched. He straight up kicked his father._

 

_For months he continued to screaming as he relived everything that had happened._

 

_He couldn’t bear another person near him._

 

_His parents maintained their distance. Servants were given strict orders to stay away from Tom Riddle._

 

_He kept to his room and he flinched whenever someone from town tried to come near him. His previous girlfriends had tried to come near him…_

 

_He had vomited when he’d seen Amanda._

 

_He had fainted when he had seen the second one._

 

_He had pushed Cecilia onto some rocks when she had not heeded his wishes. She was trying to cling to him and he had felt an anxiety attack come. He wanted to flee. He wanted away. He did not want anyone touching him._

 

_He did not want anyone near him. He just wanted to be alone._

 

_He had expressed no remorse for what had happened to her. She had broken her legs. She would never get up again._

 

_Everyone knew he was ill, still the wench had tried to come near him._

Even now, no one came near him.

 

“Now now dear father, stop day dreaming. You really are not helping your case by ignoring me.”

 

Tom looked at the devastatingly handsome boy with melodious voice before him and flinched. He was going to die. He knew it. He had left the child….his child. And now the child will have his revenge.

 

The child looked like him. It was so easy to see they were father and son. Family.

 

He was very tall for his age. He must be fifteen or fourteen. Though the kid is even more handsome than he was at his age.

 

“Do it. Kill me. That’s what you are here for. Isn’t it?”

 

Tom Riddle Sr’ voice was hollow as he said it. His mother started crying and he gave her a tired smile. At least now he would be free. His father was shaking his head. He was afraid for his son.

 

Tom looked at his father for a minute then he started clapping. The three non-magical humans flinched as they saw what he was doing.

 

He didn’t stop for a while and when he did the three knew they will die. There was nothing but cold fury in those beautiful eyes. Their kin. Tom’s son. Their grandson.

 


	8. Chapter 8

“So, you know it was wrong to leave me in Wool’s orphanage. I wasn’t to be blamed for what mother might have done to you. I have my suspicions. Mother was not right in the head. Did you know her father and brother used to beat her? That she was treated worse than a servant. Does it excuse what she did? No. ”

 

Tom flinched as he heard his…son. Merope was abused. He looked at his parents and knew they were thinking the same thing. They knew the Gaunts were poor and not right in the head. But beating a young woman.

Tom felt bile rise in his throat. No wonder Merope took whatever option she had to flee from her monstrous father and brother.

Did he have to pay the price for her peace? No.

 

He didn’t deserved to be violated.

 

Young Riddle walked to his father and Tom looked at his son. He was ready to die. He knew he will. His son must have suffered and he will have his revenge.

“Look at me,” Tom said to his father.

He pointed Morfin’s wand at him and dove into his father’s mind.

 

Tom saw everything. His father was a spoilt brat. He had everything. Then he saw his mother watching his father from the window of her house. He saw them getting married. He quickly moved forward. He saw his mother confessing she had drugged him with potions. She loved him. It’s been a while since they’ve been together. Surely she didn’t need the potion anymore. He must love her too.

His father vomited as he heard that.

 

He didn’t believe when she said she was pregnant with his kid. He didn’t know whether she was lying or telling the truth. He didn’t care. He wanted to be away from her.

He saw his mother begging for his father to stay. He could see his father’s fear. He could feel his fear. He was scared of his mother.

 

Tom came back and felt a twinge in his heart for the first time. His mother was pitiable. His father was pitiable. What a family they were.

 

His father was…crying.

 

Tom didn’t know what to feel. He was right after all. He couldn’t hate his mother. He didn’t hate…his father. He had seen his mother in Mrs. Cole’s memories. He had obliviated the dumb woman after it. Of course no one knew he had done magic. He had done wandless magic and he had already removed the trace on him temporarily in room of requirement.

She had genuinely loved him. He could see she only wanted happiness for him. She had loved his father. But she went through a very wrong way to get his affections. She died because she couldn’t live without his father by her side. She gave up her will to live. Maybe somewhere she realized what she’d done was nothing but a crime. If he was being honest, his mother's love was more like obsession. She was obsessed with his father. 

 

They all paid the price for her rash and brutal actions. 

 

Tom gracefully got up and looked at his grandparents. He flicked Morfin’s wand and knew the damage was done.

 

He looked at his father and slashed the wand in air. His father’s face was covered in gashes.  

 

His father screamed for few minutes then stopped. Only his ragged breaths and sobs could be heard now.

 

His father kept on looking at him as if he couldn’t understand what had happened.

 

His father was in a state of shock. He was expecting to die.

 

Tom shook his head at the man.

“Don’t worry, father. I won’t kill you. You suffered too. Just like mother and me. The scars on your face will remind you that you could have been humane enough to look for me. See if what your…wife was saying was the truth or not. I was treated like a monster in that place. Hate me if you want for the scars I just gave you. It makes no difference to me.”

He looked at his grandparents who were crying. They must’ve realized what he’d done. He didn’t feel bad. After all, he didn’t kill them. They weren’t great anyway. So what if they can’t get up.

“You won’t get up again. You must’ve realized it too. You are handicapped. Forever. Muggles won’t be able to treat you, no matter what.”

 

He again flicked his wand and summoned all the money that was in house.

 

“I’ll be taking all of this and depositing it in the school where I go for people like me. I have no need of your money.”

 

Tom again looked at his father who was crying again. He didn’t even look at his grandparents. His father was looking at him with so much…anguish in his eyes.

 

“Don’t worry, father. We will never see each other again. I hope…with time you’ll get better.”

 

With that Tom left the place and went back to his uncle’s house. He was still unconscious. He performed some simple charms with his uncle’s wand, like summoning flowers and water. Then he put it near his uncle and kicked him for good measure.

“Son of a bitch.”

 

He didn’t need to kill Morfin. The bastard will die in this forsaken shack by himself. His corpse will rot here for years.  Yeah, that would be way better for the likes of him.

 

He called the Knight bus and went back to Hogsmeade. He stayed in the shadows of trees for a while and allowed his breathing to even out.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.”

 

After taking a deep breath and doing a cleansing charm on his robes to remove the stench of Gaunt shack, he walked towards Honeydukes. He was in mood for some sweets.

 

There he met Evan Scamander who was also staying at school for the holidays. Tom greeted him like usual and Evan told him his distant uncle, Newt Scamander will autograph the book for his favourite nephew. Newt never really liked signing books. But for Evan’s friend he was willing to do it.

“Uncle is very good at what he does. Most of my family thinks he is weird. But he is not. He is very intelligent and kind. He loves all animals and cares for them as if they were his babies.”

Tom smiled at him as he answered his…friend of sorts. Evan was the only one he could tolerate talking to. Fantastic beasts and Where to find them was a great book. Though he was sure he could learn much more about creatures by asking Shesha. The basilisk had been around for a while. Maybe he can write his own book someday. More recognition for him.

He preferred to talk to Shesh Naga and Garuda. Sometimes Fawkes. Fawkes was very strange sometimes. He used to sleep on his shoulder in transfiguration and sometimes when he was out on his walks in the grounds, he was like his walking perch.

Dumbledore found it hilarious.

_“Fawkes likes very few people, Tom. He really is taken by you.”_

 

Neither Tom nor Dumbledore knew that Fawkes was the very bird whose tail feather rested in Tom’s wand.

 

“Thank you, Evan.” Tom smiled at his friend.

Evan smiled back and bid Tom goodbye.

 

Tom shook his head and started walking back to his home.

 

* * *

 

 

He spent his birthday in the clean living room of the Chamber. He went out and talked to Shesha and Garuda when he got bored of reading some books. They were playing a game of sorts. It was all very funny.

Then they went to the secluded part of the Black lake and he laid there with a heating charm around him. Shesha was enjoying a swim. Garuda was sitting serenely beside him. He had a little basket and was enjoying the sandwiches and bread rolls the elves had given him quite eagerly. They were very… nice. All they wanted was to make delicious food.

His eagle had his fill of fishes and frogs. He caressed his head and smiled as he saw Shesh Naga diving in and out of the lake.

 

When he ate dinner at night, he felt oddly at peace. He knew his family now, everything about them. The circumstances of his birth. He wouldn’t be going back to that wretched place anymore. He was…free. No more sneers and bullying. No more enduring Mrs. Cole’s suspicious looks.

He would be happy living in Hogsmeade. Maybe he can go and visit the Loch Ness again. Yeah, that’d be nice.

 

Now, all he had to do was work and hone his magical abilities. Alchemy was now his favourite subject. He will make a philosopher’s stone like Nicolas Flamel. Only it would also give him eternal youth.

Elixir of life didn’t make someone immortal exactly but he was proficient enough to annihilate anyone who made an attempt on his life. He was always vigilant and he will always be on guard. Death will not touch him.

 

He felt good as he looked at the beautiful enchanted ceiling.

* * *

 

 

Evan had given him his birthday gift few hours ago. It was a beautiful set of quills, a box of chocolate cauldrons and a birthday cake.

When Tom had asked him where he got such a fabulous cake from, Evan just winked at him and told him the house elves were very happy to help him make it.

He genuinely felt happy and amused as he remembered the day when Evan had showed him the way to the kitchens.

He loved magic.

* * *

 

 

The teachers were now telling them that that it was high time they started taking their education seriously. Next year will be their OWL year and the coursework is going to increase.

Of course the advice was not for him. He wasn’t lazy like the inbred idiots neither was he an idiot.

 

This time all the governors came to give him his medals and trophy. His work was exemplary. In every subject he had performed beyond well.

Dippet, Dumbledore, Merrythougt, Abbott, Flitwick and Slughorn were all smiling at him. They were very proud of him.

 

This time it was his efforts that won Slytherin the house cup. His housemates looked offended that it was because of him they had won it. He had seen his ex-bullies covering their faces during the announcement. And they were again red for some reason.

 

He was now getting a very bad feeling about why they were red around him.

 

His personality was so cold that it was almost frigid. People were awed by his magic and abilities but they dared not approach him. 

The nerve of the four to have a crush on him after calling him a mudblood. Bullying a child and threatening him.

But it was amusing as hell too.

 

How far have the royalty fallen to have crush on a half blood.

 

The applause from the other three house was deafening. They all respected him and thought he deserved to have the honour which he got.

 

* * *

 

Jean Davis was a very kind man. He welcomed him, two Hufflepuffs, one Gryffindor and two Ravenclaws with wide smiles. He told them they could eat at any time they wanted and showed them to their rooms. All he wanted from them was to tell him or his wife if they ever went out. He and his fellow schoolmates agreed readily. All of them looked…relieved. Happy.

No one wanted to go back to the orphanages. Especially in this time.

 

Tom was happy. He was not going to that filthy place and was living in a good, clean, warm room with Garuda. He had already transfigured Shesh Naga’s skin and he was going to pay Gringotts a visit. He needed more books, scrolls of magic used in ancient times, money to visit other places if he had to succeed in making the philosopher’s stone.

Knowledge was of utmost importance. Even one wrong action could be fatal. He will also be adding eternal youth to it. Yeah. He had his work was cut out for him. He will also be looking into vampires, unicorns, phoenixes, basilisk, thestrals and other fabled creatures. First three were directly related to immortality and eternal youth.

He also had to talk to Nicolas Flamel in the future. The man’s input would be very valuable.

He already knew what he was going to do. He will become an Unspeakable.

 

* * *

 

Two weeks after the holidays had started he told Jean’s wife, Marie that he would be going to Diagon Alley that day. She smiled at him and hoped he would have a good time. Tom smiled back and summoned the knight bus.

He strode towards the white building with a bounce in his steps.

The ugly creature sneered at him as he asked to be let in. Goblins were bitter creatures.

He went inside and a goblin came and took him to a private room. There he told the goblin he would like to open an account. Cornak said that was absolutely fine. He summoned a parchment and asked Tom to touch the corner. Tom did as he was told. His blood appeared on it then disappeared quickly.

What he wasn’t expecting was the goblin to pale as if he was dying as he read what was written on the page. Now, he was curious. What the hell was written there?

Cornak gave the sheet to him with a shaking hand. He could see the creature was shaking with fear.

 

_Name : Tom Marvolo Riddle_

_Father: Tom Riddle Sr_

_Mother: Merope Riddle nee Gaunt_

_Heir of Slytherin_

_Vaults_

_Slyherin vault: 900,000,000 galleons. 600,000,000 sickles. 400,000,000 Knuts._

_Locked by magic of Salazar Slytherin himself. If his descendants weren’t worthy, they would never even know the account was there._

 

So, what exactly had scared the goblin? Was it the heir part or the worthy part?

 

Tom smiled lazily and felt immense delight when the creature flinched. Goblins were hilarious. They had no qualms spreading lies about Godric Gryffindor but were scared shitless of Salazar.

Huh…right. Godric was too kind to dabble in dark arts.

 

“Well, this seems very good and all. But I still want a vault for myself.”

Cornak nodded readily, “anything, Mr. Riddle.”

 

Tom smiled at him with mischief in his eyes, “And I want this vault to remain locked. No one is to take even a single Knut out of this vault.”

 

Cornak again nodded seriously. “Of course, Mr. Riddle. We are very thorough with our security. ”

Tom nodded at him.

 

“Alright then. Now to business. First, I want to know how much does a basilisk shedded skin cost.”

He knew of course. It was 600,000 galleons. But it would be amusing to see the creature’s answer.

 

“Oh, it’s between 500,000 and 600,000 galleons.”

 

Tom smirked at Cornak, “its 600,000 thousand galleons or more if sold at unsavoury places.”

Cornak gulped before answering the wizard.

“Of course, sir. Yes.”

 

Tom nodded and took out a harmless feather from his robes.

“Touch it. It will turn back to its original form.”

 

Cornak shakily approached the feather and tapped it. He jumped back as it turned into 60 foot basilisk skin. Shesh Naga’s shedded skin.

 

Whatever colour was left on the creature’s face vanished as he saw it. He slowly looked at Tom and Tom had to admit, this was too funny.

 

Salazar Slytherin really scared a whole lot of people.

 

“Is there some problem, Cornak?” he asked sweetly.

 

The goblin shook his head and muttered something, gobbledgook probably and nodded to himself. He turned to Tom and nodded again.

 

“Everything seems to be in order. This the real deal. This will fetch you 700,000 galleons, 100,000 sickles and 1000 knuts.”

Tom nodded slowly before speaking.

 

“Alright. I am selling it to you. I expect the amount to go in my vault. Do I have to give you some gold to open an account?”

Cornak shook his head, “no, Mr. Riddle. You already have the rights to Slytherin vault. As far as we are concerned that’s all the fees we need. If you don’t mind waiting, I will go and see to your new account immediately. You can return in two hours. I’ll give you two keys to both of your vaults and other necessary materials.”

Tom nodded and stood up. “Okay, I’ll come in three hours and I want my vault near Slytherin vault.”

Cornak nodded and went on his way.  Only four vaults were in that area. Four vaults of Hogwarts founders.


	9. Chapter 9

Tom spent the waiting time with a notice me not charm on himself. The place was bustling with magic, trace was practically useless here but he had still done the spell without a wand. There was a reason he had done the charm.

He really didn’t like when people looked at him.

He was handsome, that was a fact. His beauty was ethereal, he knew that.

He was not obligated to share his beauty with cretins.

 

Some people thought it was okay to flirt whether the other person wanted their attention or not. Thankfully, he had never been subjected to something like that. His ice cold personality combined with his devastating magic was enough of a reminder to everyone to not try that sort of nonsense with him.

But he has seen it in school. Some boys didn’t like girls fawning over them but were too tired to say anything. Some girls were thoroughly repulsed by other boys and their attention.

He was beautiful for himself. He didn’t see why people thought they had any right to him or his features. Was he being a narcissist? Maybe a little.  But unwanted attention was annoying. It was obnoxious and repulsive. He had seen some people just didn’t not understand the word no.

Then, when they are humiliated by the one they were after, they spouted shit about them. What a bunch of losers.

 

Tom shook his head and went to the Knockturn Alley. There were some books which were interesting there. And he loved to scare the hooligans there. They had tried to approach him once.

Never again. One glare was all that was needed. The stupid hag and the werewolf had scurried towards one of the smaller alleys at the speed of light.

They knew not to mess with him.

 

He went to Borgin and Burkes for no reason, just to pass time. The owner was an unpleasant, oily fellow who sneered at him as he entered. One glare was enough to stop him from asking any questions.

 

He walked and saw many unpleasant artifacts. Hand of Glory…seriously. It looked dead. What glory?

 

It was when he was on first floor he recognized one counter was warded. He lazily waved his hand and the wards fell. But what he saw in one of the glass containers stopped him dead in his tracks.

That was his mother’s locket.

Salazar Slytherin’s locket.

The one which his monkey of a grandfather had valued more than his daughter.

 

Why was it here?

 

His mother had been wearing it in his father’s memories. Did she sell it here to get by? But Mrs. Cole’s memories of his mother showed her in rags?

He felt rage unlike any other gather in him. The whole floor started vibrating.

 

He broke the glass with his magic and took out the locket. He turned around and glared at the owner, Caractacus Burke. He had heard him come in.

The ugly, oily man was standing there, shivering in his clothes.

 

This locket was practically priceless. Did this son of a bitch took it from his mother? He will kill him if he had harmed his mother in any way.

 

He slowly walked towards the shivering man and dove into his mind ruthlessly. He saw her. His very pregnant mother selling the locket to get buy somehow. He could see Burke’s eyes widening as he looked at the locket. He gave his mother ten galleons for it.

The repulsive man later cackled to himself  about how stupid his mother was that she didn’t even realise that this was a priceless artifact. The wench must have stolen it.

 

Tom came back and this time he knew he wanted to murder the man in front of him. If she had had money, she would have been able to live comfortably and gave birth to him. She wouldn’t have died. She would have been here. Maybe he could have taken her to a mind healer as he got older.

 

His father’s abandonment of him was nothing compared to this. His mother and father both were victims. But the bastard in front of him?

 

The only reason he didn’t kill the man was because he knew somehow it will be traced to him. No. He will not let some oily man tarnish his dreams. But he will have his revenge. Knockturn alley was a horrible place. This won’t be traced back to him. It was known for its unsavoury characters and horrible clientele.

 

He will torture the man.

 

“Crucio,” he waved his hand and the man screamed in agony on the floor.

 

“Crucio,” he muttered six times more and the man kept screaming and screaming.

 

He waved his hand again and obliviated the man. No way he was going to associate himself with the disaster here.

He went to the counter and checked where the man kept his savings.

 

He summoned everything and destroyed the shop. He put the notice me not back on himself and went back to Diagon Alley.

 

He first went to Flourish and Blotts. There, he went straight to the bathroom and washed his face. He looked at his reflection and closed his eyes.

He took deep breaths and calmed down a little.

 

“That bastard… I hope he dies a horrible death.”

 

He again washed his face, then dried his face with a towel. Then he went and ate ice cream in a secluded part of Florean’s shop.  He sat there for a while, watching the hustle and bustle of wizards.

 

After an hour, he went back to Gringotts and got two keys and a leather pouch. He would just have to touch the pouch and slip a parchment with the amount he needed and the amount will automatically come in it. Same procedure was required if he wanted muggle money.

 

Cornak bowed deeply and he stiffly nodded and went back to Hogsmeade. 

 

That day he ate in his room and went to the forest and stayed there for the night with Garuda.

He kicked a stone viciously.

 

“World is cruel.”

 

Garuda nuzzled his cheek affectionately and he closed his eyes as he realized his friend was trying to calm him. He suddenly felt tired. 

He slept outside that night, leaning on a tree.

 

* * *

 

There was a report in the Daily Prophet next day about the utter destruction Borgin and Burkes had been left in. The man did not remember anything and was seriously injured.

The healers said that the man had been under the Cruciatus curse.

He was in horrible shape. He would never remember anything. Ever.

 

He heard people discussing in Hogsmeade about how the man was a little bitch who deserved everything he got. Apparently, he had a lot of gold too.

No one cared about what had happened.

 

Knockturn alley was notorious for things like this happening. 

 

Tom smiled to himself and went on his way to look at new broomsticks.

 

The locket now lay secure at the bottom of his trunk. He had no attachment to the locket except for the fact it was his mother’s and it belonged to one of the founders of Hogwarts. It was his by right.

It was a great historical artifact too.

* * *

 

He spent the rest of his holidays in peace. He also went to Diagon alley and Gringotts twice. He got Cornak to change the muggle money he got from his father's house and put the whole thing in a bottomless bag. It was quite a lot. 600 galleons, 500 sickles and 200 Knuts.

From Caractacus burke, he had gotten, 1200 galleons, 600 sickles and 200 Knuts. Who knows how many people he had embezzled? Though the customers of that horrendous shop must be deranged as well. No great loss.

 

He put all the money in the feather light bag and went to the owl office.

He had already inked the letter at his room which would go with the donation. He had written the letter in the shabbiest way as possible and had put an untraceable charm and some others on the parchment. He didn’t want anyone to know he had sent it.

_A little something for the brilliant witches and wizards.  
_

That's all he had written on the parchment.

 

From his account, he ordered a number of books and scrolls from shops in France, Bulgaria, Greece and many others.

It didn’t cost much, only 100 galleons. They were mainly books on dark arts, potions, alchemy, transfiguration, arithmancy, scrolls on ancient and feared creatures of the world, astronomy, ancient runes of the world.

 

He also had to think of a way to get Hagrid to stop his dumb antics. The best way was to send a letter to Dumbledore. He was head of Gryffindor house and he was sure the man would be able to convince Hagrid to stop.

If he still didn’t stop, well, he will send one to Dippet. He will tell the usual places where Hagrid ran off to with some dangerous creature, so there will be no doubt of the authenticity of his letter.

He was not going to let Hagrid’s actions close the school. It was a matter of time before it happened.

 

* * *

 

 

He got an owl from the school a week before the term. He was a Slytherin prefect.

Tom smiled to himself and congratulated himself.

He had done a lot of good this term. He had perfected his flying spell. He would submit it to ministry of magic when he was eighteen years old. And also the location spell. He was sure the majority of the populace will not be able to do them, they were quite  difficult to master.

He will gain recognition for it though. Win win situation for him.

 

Armando Dippet, Dumbledore,  Merrythought, Charlotte Abbott, Flitwick,  Guinevere, Slughorn, and the gamekeeper, Xanthus were shocked.

Dippet had called them immediately through the Floo when he had received the leather bag and the letter.

He didn’t know what to say.

The amount was a lot.

 

Donation had been anonymous and could not be traced back. The tawny owl had been from the owl delivery. That’s all they knew.

 

They informed the governors and their shock lasted for a while.

 

No one had given this much money for the orphans at the school.

 

“Well, whoever this person is…”

Dippet raised his eyebrows at Lord Malfoy but the blonde man was at a loss of words.

 

Abbott, Merrythought and Dumbledore smiled and the room calmed down instantly. Even Flitwick and Xanthus were chuckling. Slughorn was flabbergasted.

 

And that was the end of it. The money went into the school fund for the kids.

 

The letter and the money had been checked for every spell but there was none.

Abbot smiled as she left the room of the headmaster.

“Someone must really love Hogwarts to do such a thing. Not to mention they must really care for the kid’s well-being.”

 Dumbledore nodded and smiled too. “Yeah, you are absolutely right, Charlotte.”

 

* * *

 

 Abraxas, Orion, Ellair and Godfrey realized it was time they were honest to themselves and admit they liked Tom Riddle. It had gone on from simple crush to massive crush.

They knew they or anyone else will always be dirt beneath his shoes. Still, they were content to look at him and feel happy.

 

It was on one of the Hogsmeade trips, that they saw something which made them realise that not only Tom Riddle was definitely a half blood, he was also a very royal half-blood. He was Salazar Slytherin’s descendant.

Way better than any pureblood.

 

Tom Riddle was caressing a black python who was coiled around his neck and hissing softly at it. Riddle’s eagle was flying over him in circles.

 

They were close enough that they could make out the strange and awe inspiring hissing coming from Riddle’s mouth. They were the only ones around the lake since everyone had gone to Hogsmeade.

Either Tom hadn’t noticed them or he simply didn’t care.

 

_[“You are hurt, aren’t you? I’ll take care of you. You’ll enjoy being with Garuda, Shesh Naga and me. Hmm, I’ll call you Nagini. You will have to stay at the edge of forest though. But no worries, I’ll take care of you.”]_

The snake hissed softly at the speaker. He had found her injured in the forest and had gently picked her up and walked out. She was still a hatchling but the wilds were dangerous even for young ones. Forbidden forest was after all a forest.

_[“Thank you, Tom.”]_

Tom smiled at the baby snake.

The four seventh year’s eyes widened as they saw the great black python lick Tom’s cheek. Tom blushed adorably at that and they four literally moaned and had to put a hand on their mouth to stop their voices from reaching Tom.

 

It was a moot point though since Tom heard them and turned his steely gaze on them; whatever warmth was in those beautiful eyes went away in seconds.

 

The four seventh years gulped as Tom whispered something to the snake and it uncoiled itself and was now on the ground beside the tall fifth year. His bird, a golden eagle on the other hand had landed on his shoulder and was now looking at them with a very ominous glint in his eyes.

 

The four didn’t know what to do and simply did what they thought was best course of action and went down on one knee with their heads bowed.

 

Tom stopped coming towards them and raised an eyebrow at whatever nonsense his ex-bullies were doing. Unbeknownst to them, Shesh Naga was also there and was finding the whole situation hilarious.

_[“Master, what exactly did you do to them?”]_

Tom chuckled as he heard the king of serpents. He looked at the basilisk and winked.

 

_[“Who knows, dear? They are not right in the head.”]_

 

Shesha just shook his head at that. He looked forward to becoming friends with another snake, Nagini was her name. Garuda was nice. Now the three of them will have a good time.

 

Tom slowly walked towards them and stopped dead in his tracks as heard what they’d just said.

“We are sorry, my lord.”

 

Now Tom found many things amusing but he sure as hell wasn’t anyone’s lord. He didn’t even like talking to people. They irritated him with the exception of his teachers, Evan, Jean Davis and his wife.

“You are the Heir of Slytherin. You speak the ancient tongue. You are our lord,” Orion, Abraxas, Ellair and Godfrey said with their heads bowed.

 

The four knew now that they had made a terrible mistake. They should have never thought of hurting Tom Riddle.

 

Nagini was finding the whole thing funny. Though she didn’t know who her master had been talking to minutes ago. There was no snake in the lake.

 

Tom was now directly in front of the four seventh years. He shook his head and in a very soft voice told them to stop this nonsense. The four flinched on the ground.

“I am no one’s lord. I’ve got nothing to do with you or anyone else. If you are sorry for what you did years ago, then that’s good.”

 

The four slowly stood up and looked Riddle in the eye. He was as tall as the four of them. His eagle was rubbing his head on his cheek while Tom was smiling gently at them. He turned towards them and shook his head.

 

“Please don’t embarrass me in front of the school by calling me your lord or whatever. And for Merlin’s sake, stop turning red whenever you look at me. I am well aware of your…crush on me.”

With that the four of them turned red again but Tom just shook his head and started walking back towards the edge of the forest. Though, he stopped for a minute and turned towards them.

“For your information, dear Abraxas, I am a half blood. Not an inbred fool like you all or a muggleborn,” The handsome fifteen year old smiled at them and winked then went on his way with his snake and eagle.

 

The four paled as they heard Tom.  They knew then.

They knew Tom Riddle will change the world. But more than that they realized one thing.

 

They were wrong.

 

The four slowly walked towards Hogsmeade without too much conversation.

 

The four of them resolved to make their children if they ever had any, tolerant of muggleborns and half-bloods. They couldn’t change the world or their family’s views. But they could raise them to be better than they were.

 

They were quite sad Riddle would never like them like they did him. At least he didn’t hate them. That was good.

 

They knew what Tom had said was true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ Italics ]- Parseltongue
> 
> I am quite happy that I got both the chapters out before New Year. 
> 
> I hope the story is interesting.


	10. Chapter 10

Tom introduced Nagini and Shesh Naga and smiled when they started talking. Shesh Naga was quite upset at seeing a fellow snake’s injuries. But it wasn’t uncommon in forbidden forest. He and Garuda looked on with amusement as the two bantered.

Life was good.

 

Tom had been very hesitant to go to DADA that day. He had avoided going to the class last year when boggarts were taught. He couldn’t ignore it any longer. He knew what it would show.

His death in some form.

He’d felt something like tears in his eyes the first time he had snuck in and confronted it.

He had ran away from the room.

 

It was a slip of parchment saying Tom Marvolo Riddle was dead.

He didn’t find anything funny about it.

 

He went again and again at night and after two weeks managed to turn the writing on the piece of paper into something amusing.

Hah! What a joke.

 

It was the only thing he could think of. But this was his OWL year and he had to go.

 

He did the same in class and breathed a sigh of relief as no one saw it except Merrythought. She just smiled kindly at him and asked the next student to come forward. Fifth and seventh year Slytherins and Gryffindors had two classes of DADA together in a week. This was one of them.

 

After the boggarts revision, she taught them the patronus spell. It was a favourite of examiners.

 

Many people were able to produce wisps of silver after two weeks. Tom thought hard about when he discovered he wasn’t alone, that he was special, when he played with Shesh Naga and Garuda; when he accomplished some impossible spell, when he flew on his own. He thought of his accomplishments, his medals, his talks with Evan.

They managed to produce silver wisps.

 

In the last lesson for the topic, he thought about the thing which had given him most happiness. The thought that he was free, that he would never go back there, he will become great. He will live a very very long life with the Elixir. He’ll be happy with his three friends. He will travel the world and become a great sorcerer. He hoped his parents would find peace.

He will be happy.

 

Something big and enormous with wings came from his wand and the whole class stopped doing what they were doing. No one was able to produce a corporeal patronus till now. It was a very difficult piece of magic.

He heard the quartet's exclamation,“fuck me. Tell me I am wrong…”

 

He heard Merrythought’s gasp. He could sense the whole class was astounded.

 

Mythical creatures patronus were rarest of the rare.

 

Only Dumbledore had a phoenix patronus in Hogwarts.

 

Tom looked with wide eyes as his silver griffin walked to him and he smiled at it. it brightened even more.

 

After a few minutes it vanished and he turned to his teacher. He wasn’t surprised to see the old witch looked happy and proud. She had tears in her  eyes.

 

“Well done, Mr. Riddle, 100 points to Slytherin. No one has been able to produce a patronus of that caliber in a long time.

 

He looked and saw his fellow Slytherins were looking disgruntled except for his four admirers. They literally had stars in their eyes. Gryffindors were awe struck.

It was their house’s namesake he had managed to produce after all.

 

That day at dinner, the whole hall stared at him and it made him very uncomfortable. After a few minutes, his cold glare at few students stopped the stares. Though he smiled warmly when Evan came and hugged him.

 

Evan had produced something too. He was unable to discover what it was though. His friend was betting it was a zebra.

 

When he looked at the teacher’s table they were all smiling at him with warmth in their eyes. Dumbledore winked at him as he caressed his phoenix’s head. As if one cue, Fawkes flew from the table and came straight to him and nipped his ear affectionately.

He stayed on his shoulder for the whole dinner.

 

No one looked at him again. They didn’t want to be on the receiving end of the notorious cold glare of Tom Marvolo Riddle. And Fawkes trill was so soothing. No wonder Dumbledore was always so cheerful. Lucky man.

 

There was a reason only Evan Scamander was the sole friend of Riddle. Tom did not like talking or even looking at anyone else.

 

* * *

 

 

Tom  had seen Hagrid smuggling something in the castle which looked suspiciously like an Acromantula. Tom sighed.

Losing points was obviously not something Hagrid cared about because he had taken already fifty from him last week. But it seems the big guy didn’t even care about his own safety or others.

It was time he wrote his letter.

 

A week later he saw Hagrid crying but knew it was for the best. The half giant should study about creatures and learn to help them if he loves them that much. Raising werewolf cubs under his bed and getting giant spiders from seedy individuals was  not a good idea.

_Dumbledore read the letter and sighed. Rubeus had a big heart but he will be expelled if he didn’t stop. The sender of the letter was right._

_“Hagrid, please stop.”_

_Hagrid started crying and apologized for his behavior._

_“Hagrid, study well. You'll be able to become Care of magical creatures teacher if you succeed. Just don’t sneak in more animals. What if one of them kills a student? They are capable of that, my boy. You know that.”_

_Hagrid nodded slowly and apologized again and again and resolved to study._

_Dumbledore granted him permission to go visit Aragog once a week._

_“I’ll come with you whenever you wish to see him. I’ll explain the situation to Armando and two hundred points from Gryffindor for your actions. You’ll serve two months of detentions with all of your teachers. ”_

_He smiled at his student and Hagrid felt sorry but relieved. He really was lucky Dumbledore was kind._

 

Dumbledore tried to find who had sent the letter but could not find a single thing.

“Well, at least Hagrid wasn’t expelled. Thank you anonymous sender.”

* * *

 

 

Tom had his career’s council with Slughorn and his head of house was sure he would become a great Unspeakable.

“If I can, can I teach DADA sometimes at Hogwarts? I know Unspeakable aren’t allowed interactions outside but…” Tom didn't finish the sentence,

Slughorn smiled at him before answering.

“You are brilliant, Mr. Riddle. I am sure you will think of something. Headmaster Dippet would love to have you for two months in a year.”

 

Tom sometimes went to the Slug club. He really didn't like talking and most of his time was spent thinking exactly what his four ex bullies were imagining about him. They were always blushing while looking at him. He had to pass the time somehow.

He never used legilimency on them because he didn’t _really_ want to know what they thought.

 

He had been  invited in his fourth year to the weird club of Professor Slughorn. The man was weird sometimes. Evan was not invited and that had made him grumpy in those funny parties. The food was good but he only went a few times. He just sat and ignored all the students.

 

Though he did talk to the vampires. Sanguini was especially good. He liked him a lot.

He had kept on laughing when he’d heard Vlad Dracul was his good friend.

Of course he was real. Nessie was, why wouldn’t he be too? He’d read about him way before his meeting with Sanguini but to actually hear that the Dracula was his friend. Yeah, no one could fault him for laughing.

* * *

 

On Valentine’s day, Tom got quite a huge amount of  chocolates, not any old chocolates but very expensive ones from the quartet. He could see Avery teasing the four like he had seen Alphard Black tease them a year ago but he didn’t say anything.

He cornered the four of them in the common room later.

“I can’t accept these.”

The four’s faces fell but Tom didn’t care. He had no affection for them. It was wrong to accept these.

“But…but. We don’t expect you to care. We just…” Godfrey couldn’t finish.

Tom felt a little, just a little sad for them but he didn’t know what he should do.

Ellair smiled sadly at him, “we know….Riddle. Just think of them as our way of apologizing to you.”

Abraxas strode forward and  put his hand forward for Riddle to shake. “I am sorry for what I said. I really am. Seeing as I have half bloods in my family tree…I understand why my parents are sometimes disappointed in me.”

Orion looked sad and just smiled sheepishly. “it isn’t much. Just something...”

Tom looked at the four for a minute then nodded. He shook Abraxas’s hand and smiled a little, “I’ll share them with Evan. Is that okay with you?”

The four brightened and Tom gave them all a bright smile and went back to his room.

The chocolates really were very good.

 

* * *

 

Tom smiled to himself in the shade of the tree. His written exams had gone flawlessly. His practical examiners couldn’t keep the awe from their eyes as they saw his beautiful spellwork.

He again produced his griffin and his examiner clapped him on the shoulder saying he deserved to get a grade better than O for that.

Abraxas, Orion, Ellair and Godfrey bid him goodbye and wished him luck for his future. He smiled at the four and wished them the same. He waved at them as they  boarded the train.

The four knew they will cherish every moment with Tom Riddle forever.

He and Evan hugged and his friend went inside to find a compartment. Tom went back to Hogsmeade with his mind full of Evan's request . Evan had asked him since first year to come to his house but he didn’t know if he should accept.

In the end, he sent Garuda to Evan two weeks later and told him he really didn’t like crowds, but because Evan was his friend [yes he had accepted that] he could come for a lunch whenever Evan and his family wanted.

 

Evan, his siblings and his parents were ecstatic. All of them wanted to meet Evan's best friend.

The lunch went wonderfully and Tom felt happy seeing Evan happy. His siblings and parents were wonderful. Tom was glad he had accepted his friend’s invitation.

They made plans to do it again.

 

* * *

 

Tom gave the barn owl treats and opened the parchment. He knew what his exam results will be but he had proof now.

He was right.

Of course, he was right.

 

He had gotten O in every subject. He had taken all subjects in the curriculum, except for Muggle studies.

 

He was special. He was great.

 

He had also gotten a reward from the ministry since there had been no student who had performed as well as him for centuries.

He'd received 200 galleons reward  and free coupons to Florean Fortescue and Flourish and Blotts for next six months.

 

Jean davis prepared a lavish meal that day while his wife ruffled all of their heads, congratulating them all.

 

Hagrid had gotten E in care of magical creatures. In others, he'd got an A and two P's. But Hagrid didn't care about the stupid P. He was happy for his E.

No. That was an understatement. He was on the moon.

 

* * *

 

 

Tom's sixth year passed peacefully, except for that one incident. Though the thing had only added to his excellent record.

He knew how to Apparate but he could only take the test near the end of his seventh year. He did cheer Evan for not splinching himself though. He continued to study Alchemy and had written a letter to Nicolas Flamel too. He had gotten a lengthy reply back and the alchemist was very impressed with him.

 

In his last year got the Head Boy badge and also got special lodgings. They were nice. He and Evan spent a lot of  time there playing Gobstones or Chess.

He went to the trophy room and smiled in satisfaction at seeing his name there on many trophies and medals. The result of his determination, magic and hardwork. He was down in history.

He had gotten Special awards for services to the school last year when two werewolves had attacked Hogwarts. He had stopped them single handedly before Dippet, Filius, Abbott, Dumbledore, Merrythought and others had come. They had been subdued and sent back to the forest. The two had said something about some mental feral werewolf and a mage doing something to them.

 

He performed brilliantly in his NEWTS at the end of the year. He knew his straight O’s were on their way.

 

Evan hugged him goodbye and they promised to always be in touch with each other no matter what.

 

* * *

 

 

Dumbledore patted his head as he congratulated and praised him for his exceptional performance these last seven years. He gave him a set of rare charms and transfiguration books and wished him all the luck in the world.

“It was a pleasure teaching you, Tom,” Dumbleore smiled kindly at the boy who had grown so much and had done deeds no normal wizard was capable of. 

 

Tom smiled at him as he took the gift from the man who had defeated the greatest dark lord, Gellert Grindelwald.

The whole magical world knew the terror Gellert Grindelwald had brought upon the magic and non magic world. The muggles had their own war but they had suffered because of Grindelwald too.

The former Durmstrang student was a mental.

 

“No, thank you for treating me right all these years. For caring for my well being. Thank you for teaching me everything I know. It was a privilege to be taught by you.”

Dumbledore shook his head but smiled nonetheless.

 

“You are a wonderful student, Tom Riddle. Good luck in your life.”

 

Merrythought hugged him and gave him a set of quills and a set of rare Defense magic books.

“You are my favourite student, Tom and nothing is ever going to change that. Good luck. I know you will become a remarkable member of the Department of Mysteries after you come back from your travels.”

Filius and Dumbledore chuckled as they heard that.

 

“I am sure Mr Riddle will be allowed to teach here for two months. I have full confidence in you,” Flitwick said as he handed Tom his own collection of some very old charm books.

Tom smiled a little as he thanked the little professor.

 

Horace Slughorn was crying. All the professors knew Horace cared for his students a lot. But he was proud of the fact that Tom Riddle had been in his house.

 

“It was an honour to have you in my house, Mr. Riddle. I have never had the pleasure of teaching someone of your caliber.”

Dumbledore nodded at that, "I think so too, Horace. You are an exceptional wizard, Tom.”

 

Tom shook his head but took the ancient potions books Slughorn gave him along with a box of one of the most expensive candies and coupons to a match of Puddlemere united and Chudley cannons. He liked Puddlemere united.

 

Professor Sparrow hugged him and gave him the most expensive broom out yet, Nimbus 1900. Norrington knew Tom had developed the spell and even though it wasn’t completely a light spell, it was nonetheless safe. He was having trouble mastering it. That itself explained how much command Tom had on his magic. Seeing as he developed it when he was in his third year.

“Sometimes it’s nice to fly on a broom too,” Sparrow said as he handed his gift to Tom who started laughing.

 

They all knew about the spell and had told him how to go about submitting it the ministry. It was hard creating new spells. The award was quite big too since not many people could create spells when they were still in their teens.

 

Charlotte Abbott patted his head and hugged him too. Tom knew this must be how the kids felt when they hugged by their mothers.

“I am so proud of you, Tom. You will go far in life. You are blessed by Magic itself.”

 

She gave him some exquisite plants and some very ancient books of Herbology. Her husband, Leo Graves winked at him too. The man was nice. He usually didn't come to the school but since this was a special occasion he had come.

She also gave him chocolate cauldrons and a box of fudge cake.

Armando Dippet hugged him and said he would be glad to have Tom teach his students.  

 

They waved at him as he made his way back to Hogsmeade. He still had to stay there till he turned seventeen. He waved back but felt anguish unlike anything he had ever experienced before.

He would have to leave Shesh Naga here.

Combined with the fact that he was leaving the place which was his home. Hogwarts had been his home.

It will always be his home.

All of his teachers meant something to him. He will always respect them all.

Shesha and he had talked about it and the basilisk had looked incredibly sad when he had realized he would have to stay at Hogwarts for a while. Once he was back from his travels he will buy a house near a big lake so he could get Shesh Naga and Nagini out of Hogwarts. Only Garuda would go with him on his travels.

 

Before he could leave, Fawkes landed on his shoulder and nipped his ear and nuzzled his cheek affectionately. He smiled sadly at the beautiful bird. He will miss him. Fawkes saw something in his eyes and started singing. Before he went back, he realized the phoenix had given him a gift.

Two phoenix feathers.

 

He looked back and saw all of his teachers had tears in their eyes. But they were smiling. They were happy.

They were happy for him.

Fawkes and Garuda were flying above him together. Tom smiled widely at all of them and at the only place which had given him happiness.

 

* * *

 

He got his NEWT results and smirked as he saw his name on the first page of the newspaper.

He had gotten straight O’s in all subjects.

He had received 500 galleon reward for his exceptional performance.  His application to DOM has also been accepted.

 

He smiled to himself as Garuda nuzzled his cheek. He caressed his head and leaned back on the pillows.

“This is great, dear.”

 

On his birthday, he got numerous birthday cakes, dress robes, sneakoscopes and many other things from his professors and Evan. He also got letters and gifts from the quartet. They sounded very happy for him from their letters. Of course, it was not a surprise they knew about his results.

 

He took the test in January and passed with flying colours.

 

He thanked Jean Davis and his wife for everything. The old couple had tears in their eyes and wished him luck on his travels. He also requested to put in even more protection charms on their building.

Jean smiled and allowed him.

Three broomsticks was now one of the most secure places in England.

He smiled to himself and went on to his travels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics : Flashback


	11. Chapter 11

Tom Marvolo Riddle came back from his travels when he was twenty, and the only thing that had changed, was that his eyes were no longer grey in colour. They were the colour of rich red wine now. And when he was angry or upset they turned blood red.

First, he went to Gringotts and got a cottage near Loch Lochy. So, he liked David [kelpie] in Loch Ness and wanted to be near him and Hogwarts. Sue him.

 

The cottage was two story, had four bedrooms with beautiful four poster beds, a kitchen, a dining hall and a living room. It was very pleasant and nice.  He warded his cottage with every spell known and not known to wizard kind. He got his stuff back from the vault and went to Hogwarts to talk to his teachers. They were very happy to see him. He also congratulated Dumbledore as there were talks he might become the next headmaster in a decade or so.

 

He hugged Shesh Naga and Nagini as he saw them. They were pretty happy to see him too. Nagini coiled around his shoulders as he caressed her head. She had grown.

He disillusioned them and apparated them to their home.

 

Garuda greeted them excitedly while Shesha pestered him to take off the glamour off his eye. It was off putting to him.

[“Tom, take that thing off. What have you done to your eyes?”]

Tom smiled sheepishly as he told them why his eyes colour had changed to red. The two were startled to see his wine red eyes but still licked his cheek nonetheless. They knew why the colour had changed, it was a side effect of delving in dark magic.

He set up his home and knew the place was safe. Shesha could stay in the lake and the basilisk knew how to hide himself when some wayward muggles came to visit the place.  

His work on the Philosopher’s Stone was going well too. He was in constant correspondence with Nicolas.

 

* * *

 

 At twenty four he completed his training and became an Unspeakable.

He loved his job.

He came home every night and had a good dinner. His Gringotts account was doing well too.

He had talked to one of his superiors about teaching for two months at Hogwarts. First, Rudolf Graves had looked at him for full ten minutes but in the end had agreed. It was unheard of but well Tom Marvolo Riddle was unique in every way.

They all knew who he was and because of that they had agreed. Though they said he could only do that after working in the department for ten years.

His name was now a common occurrence in St Mungo’s healer journals, Defence against Dark arts books, Charms books, Transfiguration notes, Books on mythical creatures of the world, Ancient Runes, Alchemy, and Arithmancy.  

He had created ten spells. He had submitted them and even though some people had said they had elements of dark magic, he had smoothly counteracted it with the fact that Obliviate was literally capable of destroying a mind and a person's life.

All of his teachers had supported him.

Dark arts were dangerous but not every art was horrible.

* * *

 

When he was twenty five, he got a peculiar letter. It was from his father.

He had no idea how his father had even found him, but when he read the letter it made sense.

When Dumbledore had come to tell him about the school, he’d left a muggle post address for Mrs. Cole if she ever wanted to tell him something. It was mandatory for wizards and witches in orphanages and for muggleborns. His father had only known the name of the orphanage he had grown up in, Wool’s orphanage.

Tom Riddle, his father started searching for him when he was twenty one and finally after a long time, Mrs. Cole gave him the address. She also had to search for the address in the many files she kept.

His father had written to the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Dippet, to ask about his son’s whereabouts.

Dippet after much consideration gave the address of his house to his father. Though his father would not be able to reach him on his own, he sent a letter to Dippet again.

 

Tom read the letter but didn’t know what he should do. His father was asking to meet him.

_Dear son,_

_Many years have passed since that day and I-I just want to tell you that I am sorry. I am sorry for everything. I just want to talk to you. If you don’t wish to see me, that’s fine. I- I am still sorry for everything._

_Tom Riddle_

 

Tom didn’t know how he should reply so he didn’t. He didn't feel anything while reading it.

 

Ten days later he wrote a reply and caressed Garuda’s head.

“You know what to do, dear.”

 

The beautiful golden eagle nodded and nuzzled his cheek affectionately and took the scroll with him.

 

_Father_

_I will come and meet you. I don’t know what we can even talk about but I will come._

_Sincerely_

_Tom Marvolo Riddle_

 

Tom smiled as he read the letter his son had sent. He pushed the plate of chicken legs towards the eagle which had been eyeing him with something like…amusement.

Yes, he could see his son’s pet found it hilarious that his master and he looked very similar.

The fact that an eagle had delivered his son’s letter was strange. But then again Armando Dippet, headmaster of Tom’s school had also explained everything in a very long letter. He had also sent a book about how things worked in magical world.

It was usually owls which did this but his son was unique in this way too. His son was bloody brilliant in everything. He had been top of his class in every year, in fact he was the most brilliant student Hogwarts had ever seen.

He was proud of him.

So were his parents.

He was sure Merope would’ve been proud of him too.

 

They’d been angry, scared nay terrified, but in the end had understood Tom’s/their grandson’s anger.

 

He had been ready to die and was not angry at all with what Tom had done.

He wanted to be a father now.

After learning about Merope, he had wished she found peace.

 

On 24th December, Tom found himself standing outside Riddle manor again. It’s been almost a decade and the place was still pretty much the same.

He knocked on the door and the maid and the butler let him in. They bowed their heads and called him young master. Tom raised his eyebrows at that, but didn’t say anything.

His father had told them the truth it seems.

When he went in the dining room, he could see a large Christmas tree and many gifts under it. His grandparents smiled politely at him while his father approached him with a tired smile.

“Hello, son. I can call you that…right?” 

 

Tom looked at the man who didn’t seemed to have aged much even though almost a decade was gone. His father.

“Of course, father. I am your son. You have every right to call me that.”

Tom Riddle Sr smiled a little and beckoned him to another room.

 

He apologized again and again for leaving him, for leaving his pregnant wife. He still shuddered and got shivers when he thought about her but with time he had learned to just forget it. He could never forgive her for what she did but…he had tried to just forget it.  He still didn’t like being near other people though. Not that was a great loss. He didn’t even care there were scars on his face.

The four ate a good lunch then Tom showed his son to his bedroom.

 

Next day they wished each other Christmas and the three residents of Riddle manor gave Tom lots of gifts.

Tom gave all three of them nice muggle clothes.

 

In a way Tom felt happy. He wasn’t angry anymore.

It was nice.

His father asked him if he could hug him when he was on the door, he smiled a little and agreed.

 

* * *

 

At the age of twenty eight, he accomplished his life’s ambition. He had Eternal Youth and Elixir of Life.

He had created the Philosopher’s Stone.

He was awarded Order of Merlin First Class for his achievement. He stopped aging as he drank the Elixir. He could feel it.

His contribution to magical world was astounding. His name was spoken with respect and awe everywhere.

 

Ollivander started laughing as he read the headlines. Tom Riddle had done it. He was an exceptional wizard. He has done great things. The forever young, immortal youth will continue to do great things.

“So, I was right, Mr. Riddle…you have done great things. Merlin bless you.”

 

Bob Ogden and his wife had smiled when they’d read about Tom Riddle. They were happy for the kid.

Bob had sent in his congratulations to the boy and had received his reply in just a day. Tom really was a good young man.

He wished the child all the luck and good fortune in the world.

 

Abraxas, Godfrey, Ellair and Orion smiled stupidly as they read the Daily Prophet. Their Lord had done it.

 

Now, in the books after Nicolas Flamel his name came. His stone was even more unique as it gave the drinker eternal youth too. Perenelle and Nicolas treated him like a little kid. They were very proud that someone had finally accomplished it again.

“Well done, Mr. Riddle. You really are remarkable,” the alchemist and his wife said in unison.

He smiled as they shook hands.

 

His teachers sent him many gifts and well wishes. When he met them, he could see Merrythought understood why he’d done it. The aged witch had nothing but kindness in her smile and eyes.

He was afraid of death.

He will not die.

 

Slughorn had cried all the while saying he was so proud Tom had been in his house. Charlotte had hugged him while Dippet and Dumbledore had patted his head.

“I am so proud of you, my boy. Well done,” Dumbledore said kindly.

 

* * *

 

On his birthday, he received even more gifts than usual.

He received many owls from different people but he never responded to any of them. Soon, people realized the wizard, Tom Riddle was a recluse and stopped sending him invitations and other such things. Majority called him arrogant and egoist. Some said he was an Unspeakable and everyone knew they were not very social.

That was an understatement. They weren’t social at all.

He didn’t really care what they thought of him. He was better than them in every way. They were just jealous.

But he had been happy when he’d read Ollivander’s and Bob’s letter. The wand maker was nice and Ogden was one of the few people he was grateful to. The man had helped him find about his family.

He usually only talked with his teachers, Evan, Nicolas Flamel and his wife and Jean Davis and his wife.

* * *

 He told his father what he’d done. Not that he didn’t know, since he had a subscription of the Daily Prophet but still the man was his family. It was only right his father heard it from him. The three knew he was immortal and would never age.

His father had hugged him and had been very proud of him. His grandparents had been shocked but had smiled at him nonetheless.

* * *

 

When he was thirty, he got a letter from Cornak saying he must immediately come to Gringotts.

His uncle had died and the Gaunt ring had come back to the vault of Slytherin.

 

He glared at the ring and wished for it to burn on spot. The filthy heirloom had been treated with more respect and care than his very living human mother.

But then he thought that his grandfather and uncle will roll in their graves if a half blood, Tom Riddle’s son were to have it.

With an evil smirk which sent shivers down the two goblins spine, he performed some cleansing charms on it and pocketed it. No way was he wearing something which his filthy uncle had worn.

Maybe he’ll do a cleansing ritual for it and the locket. Samhain or Yule should be a good time for that.

He continued to develop more spells and he was sure everyone in the wizarding world knew his name and reputation.

_Tom Marvolo Riddle, arrogant maker of the only other Philosopher’s Stone in the world after Nicolas Flamel. Only his stone was even better than Nicolas’s, not to mention he had made it in his twenties._

 

* * *

 

At the age of thirty five he still looked twenty eight. He knew he had stopped aging but it was still nice to see the proof.

He applied for Hogwarts and Dippet welcomed him with open arms.

He had talked with the Defense against Dark arts Teacher and Lancelot Krum was more than happy to have two months off.

Tom decided after a while he would teach in October and November. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a few more chapters, then Harry will finally be in the story.


	12. Chapter 12

Tom knew he was right, his decision to teach was correct. He enjoyed teaching. It was nice and very different from his regular job, which consisted of experiments in Time chamber, Thought chamber and Death chamber. Sometimes they also went out in the field when Aurors couldn't handle the dark objects they came across. But teaching kids was really entertaining.

The first years were very excited to learn new things. He could see muggleborns were a little afraid but were very excited to learn more about magic.

Another thing which surprised him was that the kids loved him, he could see it in their eyes. Most of them knew him and looked at him with stars in their eyes. They respected him. That made him very smug.

After two years of teaching at Hogwarts, Dumbledore became the Headmaster and the staff threw a grand party that day for Dippet and Dumbledore.

He and his fellow teachers had a drinking contest; he won because he couldn't get drunk. He was amused to see his fellow colleagues drunk state though.

 

He was also surprised to see the things children were afraid of. Although, in hindsight it shouldn't have been a surprise.

 

He had to comfort a student of Gryffindor when he’d seen the news of his father’s death.  Aindreas Wood was a quiet child with who preferred the company of broomsticks and plants than people.

He had felt his heart clench when the kid had started crying when he had seen the Boggart.

 

He took him to his office and gave him some Calming Draught. The third year kept on sniffing and he sighed. He was not very good at comforting people. Hell, he only talked to a handful of people but he will try to help the kid. It was his job and common decency.

“Mr. Wood, tell me, is your father not well?”

Aindreas sniffed but answered Mr. Riddle nonetheless.

“No. No, he is sick. Mom-Mon died when I was three. I-I don’t want to be alone.”

Tom closed his eyes at that. No. He would have to take the child to headmaster or the head of his house if he didn’t succeed in calming him.

“Mr. Wood, your father will be fine. He won’t leave you alone." He softened his voice as he continued. "People don’t die of the ailment you are talking about. St Mungos will be able to help your father. Don’t worry.”

Aindreas looked at the beautiful man in front of him and again sniffed. He knew Mr. Riddle was immortal. Of course, he wouldn’t worry about death. Tom Marvolo Riddle was a brilliant wizard, an Unspeakable, creator of nineteen spells and potions, has revolutionized Transfiguration, Healing magic, Ancient Runes, Dark Arts, Defense magic, Potions and Magical creatures care.

He can even fly.

If this man is saying it, maybe his father will be alright.

“Truly sir?” Aindreas asked in a small voice.

Tom nodded at the kid and after a while Aindreas stopped crying. He told the kid to go back to his dormitory. He was excused from the classes for the day. He then went to Dumbledore and told him about the kid. Albus sighed as he heard Tom.

“Thank you, Tom. I’ll tell Minerva to talk to the kid.”

Tom nodded and went back to his class.

* * *

 

Next day, he heard some Hufflepuffs and Slytherins making fun of Aindreas in his class.

Very bad idea to do that in his class.

 

“Did you look at his face? What an idiot.”

“He is a wimp. The only thing he is good at is flying. Dunno, why the fool is in Gryffindor.”

“Exactly. He is so shy and dumb. How can he be brave? Crying like an idiot for no reason.”

As soon as Tom entered the class, they stopped talking immediately. The damage was done though.

He knew his eyes were blood red when he looked at the class. He smiled in satisfaction as the temperature in the room dropped. He could practically taste their fear in the air. Red eyes would do that to general populace.

_Good. Now they’ll learn not to badmouth kids who are afraid for their family._

“Mr. Smith, Mr. Crabbe and Miss Goyle, you’ll be serving detention with me this week. I expect you in my office at 9 very day. Don’t be late." He glared at them then. "You won’t like it if you are.”

The three idiots gulped and the rest of the class went by in complete silence. No one dared to say a single thing after that.

 

By dinner, the whole school knew what had happened. He was a brilliant wizard but now the children also understood why he was also feared. They understood why the man was revered and feared.

Professor Sprout smiled at him as did Minerva. He didn’t know them since they had been attended Hogwarts after he had graduated. But, still, they were good to talk to and didn’t get on his nerves. They were good at their subjects.

Dumbledore smiled mischievously at him while Lancelot was laughing.

“Oh, Riddle. Did you really have to show them your red eyes?”

He shrugged but still answered Lancelot nonetheless.

“Well, the three thought it was okay to make fun of Aindreas Wood because he was afraid his father would die. I didn’t see a reason why they should get off easily.”

No one on the table said anything after that. They were angry at what had happened too. Slughorn was glaring at the two students from his house while Sprout was absolutely disgusted with Smith.

Tom looked at the Gryffindor table and saw Aindreas looking at him with wonder and awe in his eyes. He winked at him and the boy turned red and started gobbling his food.

 

* * *

 

He knew something was wrong as Garuda gave him the letter.

He read it and clenched his hands. Merrythought was not well. She was sick.

He will not let Dragon Pox take her. She was a kind witch and a good human being. All of his professors had treated him like a son, especially her and Abbott. He won’t allow her to die in agony.

He had a week off and he knew in two days he will find a cure.

 

After six days he smiled to himself. He took a deep breath and sighed.

He had done it.

 

* * *

 

He apparated to Charlotte Abbott’s mansion. She, Merrythought and Lancelot lived together.

As soon as he entered the house, the house elf took him to Galatea’s room. Graves smiled tiredly at him as he saw him. He did not want his friend to die.

Charlotte, Dumbledore, Filius, Slughorn and Lancelot were around Merrythought's bed who was saying again and again that she was fine.

 

“You are not fine, professor. But you will be.”

 

The five’s eyes widened as they heard him. Galatea looked at him for a while but then she started crying silently.

“Oh, Tom. You can’t cure this. Especially at this age.”

 

Tom shook his head and moved towards her.

“No, professor. I have found a cure.”

 

All the wizards in the room stiffened as they heard him.

 

Dumbledore looked at Tom for a minute and nodded as he saw the resolve in his eyes. The four moved away from Merrythought and Tom apparated to St Mungos. He saw two healers eating in the cafeteria and asked them to come with him. The two nodded immediately as they saw him.

The three went back and Tom told them about the potion and everyone’s eyes widened as they heard him.

 

The two healers gave her the Draught which would render her unconscious. Tom performed the spell and her body glowed white for full twenty minutes. Then he pulled out the flask from his robes and asked the healer to give it to her for next five hours in small amounts, six drops at a time.

He and the others remained outside for next six hours. After seven hours, the two healers came out with brilliant smiles.

“She is fine. How did you even do that?”

Tom smiled tiredly as he heard that but didn’t answer. He politely asked to see Merrythought. The two healers nodded and Tom and the others entered the room.

Galatea Merrythought was sleeping peacefully. Tom noticed that she looked better than before.

His cure had worked. The spell and the potion.

 

After a good meal, he explained how he’d treated her. The spell was something he had come up with after studying some ancient Mesopotamian and Greek scrolls. The he told them about the potion he had created that had cured her. It had required constant presence of sunlight, fresh Basilisk venom, grinded unicorn hair and dragon blood.

No one asked Tom how he had gotten fresh Basilisk venom.

He had no qualms in admitting he was the Heir of Slytherin. But, he would wait for his professor to wake up before telling them.

 

* * *

 

A week later he told them and all of them stiffened as they heard him.

They didn’t know what they should be shocked about more.

I. That the Heir of Slytherin had been at Hogwarts

II. That Tom Riddle had found the fabled Chamber of Secrets

III. That he had somehow befriended the Basilisk or that the basilisk had a grand time in the Black Lake for years or that no one had been injured by Slytherin’s mythical beast or that none of them had any clue that he had done this.

Tom looked at them with a cool expression. If they were going to berate him for it, so be it. He hadn't done anything wrong.

But nothing like that happened.

Instead all of them asked to see Shesh Naga.

 

A week later, all of them apparated to his house and he called Shesha in their tongue. His teacher’s eyes widened as they heard him. Only Albus looked amused since he knew Tom could speak it.

Shesh Naga became visible and he went and caressed his neck. The basilisk looked amused.

_[“So, you decided to tell everyone about me, Tom?”]_

_[“Yeah, it was kind of obvious since the potion required your venom. Your fresh venom,” Tom smiled a little and then started laughing as he noticed his teacher’s gobsmacked expressions.]_

They were literally standing there with their mouths open in shock and bewilderment.

Fawkes came and perched on his shoulder then. Shesh Naga looked amused but then his eagle came and made himself home on his other shoulder. The basilisk hissed a little as he saw the two avians challenging his claim. But Tom moved towards him and the basilisk lowered his head. Tom kissed his forehead and caressed his head again.

_[“Come on. I love all of you equally, you know that better than anyone else,” Tom hissed at his dear friend.]_

Just then Nagini also came and he shook his head. He patted her head too. Nagin hissed in contentment. They were all attention seekers.

_[“Tom loves all of us equally,” the giant python said happily.]_

He looked to his teachers who were now smiling softly at him. Armando Dippet had grown very old but still the headmaster had come. Both he and Dumbledore were looking at him with a kind smile on their face.

“You are a great person, Tom,” Galatea Merrythought said with tears in her eyes.

Flitwick, Abbott and Graves smiled at him and asked to be introduced to his friends.

He introduced Garuda, Shesh Naga and Nagini to all of them. Then they all went inside and enjoyed his cooking. He was a brilliant cook.

He was good at everything.

 

“This pudding is absolutely delicious, Tom,” Dumbledore said while getting some more. Tom’s cooking was beyond good.

Abbott and Filius nodded, “yes, this pie too. No wonder you are always so happy.”

Galatea, Graves and Dippet laughed at that.

Tom smiled too as he dug in his ice cream.

 

* * *

 

Rodolf, Francis, Elenore and Virgil were having a hard time dealing with the cursed object in the small village. Hugue and his wife, Agnes had been sent back to summon unspeakable Riddle. This was getting out of hand.

The man’s knowledge of dark curses was astounding. If anyone could have a chance to vanquish the curse, it was him.

The small wizarding village in Romania wasn’t well known and was sparsely populated. Rodolf and Elenore, head of the departments had gotten a report of animals dying mysteriously in the nearby forest a week ago.

After much discussion the six of them had left Tom in charge and had gone there. This wasn’t something Aurors could handle. It took them two weeks to pinpoint the source of the problem. It was a small silver box.

They’d been able to contain the curse in the box, but they were nowhere near erasing it from existence. They didn’t want to take something like that back, it was too dangerous. Their reports would have to be sufficient for further studies. Too many living beings had died by the curse. The forest was wiped clean. Among the casualties had been unicorns, thestrals, normal animals, occamies, a nundu, a kelpie and a runespoor was taking its last breath now.

Not one of them could stop their hearts from clenching as they saw the three headed serpent draw breaths agonizingly.

 

Tom came an hour later and his eyes narrowed as he saw the dying serpent. He immediately went to it but did not touch it. Hugue and Agnes had told him it might be infectious.

Everyone’s eyes widened as they saw Tom hissing at the runespoor.

No one knew that Riddle was a parselmouth.

Well, they knew the ability was seen as dark but none of them really cared about that. Tom Riddle had never harmed anyone and liking the dark arts did not equate to being evil.

All of them used some or the other dark spell in their field. They dealt with the unknown and it was their job to study it.

Caution was utmost importance in any field. There’s wasn’t any different.

 

The runespoor calmed down instantly and all of them flinched as they noticed the murderous glare of Tom Riddle. His glare was even more terrifying because of the red glint present now. His red eyes was eerily glowing.

They noticed as his hissing somewhat calmed after a few minutes. The runespoor had closed its eyes and after a minute they realized why.

Tom had freed the runespoor from unbearable pain.

He had killed him.

 

[ _“Oh, my friend. I am so sorry,” Tom hissed as gently as possible. He could see the great snake was in agonizing pain._

_The runespoor slowly looked at the new wizard who was speaking his tongue and sighed. Maybe he could free him._

_“Speaker, I ask only one thing of you, end this.”_

_Tom didn’t want to kill the great snake but he could see the reptile was in great agony._

_The runespoor told him how some human had dropped a box a month ago near their forest. As soon as it was opened all living beings who came in contact with him had died. It was not a clean death either. They suffered for weeks before drawing their last breath._

_“Two human hatchlings and two male humans had also died. Your friends couldn’t find their bodies because they disintegrated immediately.”_

_Tom nodded, “I see.”_

_“Well, speaker. If you would please…” the runespoor hissed softly._

_Tom clenched his hand but drew his wand and muttered the killing curse.]_

 

Tom wanted to go back to his friends. Garuda, Shesh Naga and Nagini must always be okay.

They shall never be harmed.

He didn’t think he could survive if anything ever happened to them.

 

The world will feel his wrath if anything ever happened to them.

He clenched the hand that held his yew wand as that thought came. No. Nothing will happen to any of them.

 

Maybe it was the Unspeakables imagination, but the runespoor looked at peace now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Italics]- Parseltongue


	13. Chapter 13

Tom told them what the beast had told him and all of them immediately went to the place where the humans had died. They told Tom what they thought about the curse and Tom had a fair idea how to tackle it.

He went back to the clearing and told them about the potion. All of them nodded as they heard them.

Two days later the potion was ready but the box could not be cut with a wand. The curse was gone because of the potion but now they needed something to destroy the box.

 

“We need a sword or something,” Virgil said while looking around as if one would appear immediately.

Francis nodded, “Yeah or a boulder or something. We shouldn't touch that object with our hands.”

“Well, Gryffindor’s sword would be nice to have right about now,” Virgil sighed as he said it. It was a futile hope.

Agnes and Hugue looked flabbergasted as they heard their friend.

None of them had been Gryffindor in their time. The sword only appeared in front of a worthy Gryffindor.

 

Tom shook his head as he heard his colleague.

“Yeah, that would’ve been nice. The sword would be useful. But none of us is a Gryffindor.”

 

All of them noticed as a long silver ruby encrusted sword suddenly appeared in front of him as he said it.

 

Rodolf and Elenore’s eyes widened as they saw it. It had not been seen in centuries.

Tom narrowed his eyes at the sword as it appeared in front of him.

 

The legends said it would appear only in front of a worthy Gryffindor. But he wasn’t one. He was Salazar’s heir. But then he remembered what the sorting hat had said and his shoulders lost their rigidity.

His patronus was a griffin too. He chuckled to himself.

“Well, then, let’s end this.”

 

He picked up the sword and went to the box slowly. In one clean sweep the box was cut in half. After a minute the box disappeared and the sword glowed white blue for a minute before turning back to it’s normal state.

It did not disappear from his hands.

 

Francis and Elenore whistled. The sword was goblin made, crafted by an acquaintance of Godric. Rodolf  shook his head, ready to go home and rest. This had taken up lot of time and caused irreparable damage.

“Of course, the sword has magical properties and only imbibes what makes it stronger.”

 

All of them wondered why the sword had appeared in front of Riddle.

 

In the end, it was decided the sword should be given back to Hogwarts.

 

Dumbledore could not stop smiling the whole time Tom told him how it had come in his possession.

Tom was not amused with his professor’s smug expression.

 

“Well, goodbye, professor.”

Albus waved back and smiled again.

 

“You really are something else, Mr. Riddle.”

The portraits smiled as they heard him. Dippet was very happy.

 

* * *

 

 

Charlotte Abbott had died a week ago and Tom didn’t know why he had been asked to be there when her will was read.

Tom didn’t like that she and Graves were no longer in the world of living. A year ago Merrythought had also passed away in her sleep.

He didn’t like everyone he had cared for was leaving him.

 

“And, finally a letter by Mrs. Abbott to Tom Riddle,” Xernok said snottily.

Tom, Flitwick, Dumbledore and Ravenclaw’s ghost, Helena Ravenclaw or as most knew her, the Grey Lady were the only ones present there.

 

Helena Ravenclaw had been a friend of Abbott. She was sad to know her friend had died.

The late professor and Graves didn’t have any children, so whatever she had was left to Hogwarts. But not everything it seemed.

 

_“Dear Tom_

_I know it may seem strange that I am leaving you this, but I cannot think of anyone else who deserves to have this other than you. I could’ve left it to Hogwarts but I don’t want to. Maybe someone might claim it was theirs by right. You are the one who can protect it best. Who better to have something so precious than an immortal wizard like you. I would like to think Helga would have agreed with me._

_You’ve always been very polite and it was a pleasure to teach you. I still remember when you were a little boy and had been sorted. You will always have a special place in my heart. You are as good as my and Graves son. We never wanted kids, but if we ever had one, we would like to think he/she would have been like you._

_Years ago a relative of mine died of a heart attack. She was a…weird one.  She was suspicious of everyone. I don’t know why she left Helga Hufflepuff’s cup in my hands. Whatever her reason maybe, it’s a coveted magical artifact and I would hate for it to fall in the wrong hands._

_I, Charlotte Abbott, distant relative of Helga Hufflepuff herself, leave her prized and beloved cup to Tom Marvolo Riddle. If anyone else were to touch it, it will disintegrate within seconds.”_

 

The four’s eyes widened as the goblin finished reading the letter. He carefully handed a velvet bag to Tom.

 

Tom opened it and pulled out the cup for everyone to see. He noticed a small badger on the golden cup.

 

Dumbledore, Flitwick and Helena were looking at the cup solemnly. But the ghost was looking at it with something akin to sadness in her eyes.

“And, that includes everything,” Xernok said after giving the books to Flitwick and a letter to Helena.

 

Dumbledore smiled kindly at the young man who was looking at the cup with an indescribable expression.

“It’s a great honour to have this, my boy.”

 

Tom nodded slowly as he put the cup back in the bag. He didn’t understand why he had been chosen to be the keeper of this great artifact.

_Well, it’s not like this is the first one._

 

He placed it with the others in his disillusioned glass cabinet. Abbott had trusted him with it and he will not break her trust. He will see to it that the cup remains safe.

He was touched that she had trusted him so much.

* * *

 

That year when he was teaching at Hogwarts, he was approached by Helena Ravenclaw. The Grey Lady usually kept to herself and he had noticed in his years at school and later that she despised the Bloody Baron.

“I have a request to make of you, Mr. Riddle,” Helena said quietly.

 

Tom nodded and noticed that the ghost woman looked shifty. Guilty.

“You know I am a descendant of, Rowena ravenclaw,” she said him to which he nodded. What was happening? Why was this ghost talking to him?

“But, there is a truth which no one knows. I am not only a descendant. She was my mother,” her voice was soft as she told him that.

Tom raised his eyebrows at that.

Right.

The woman closed her eyes and told him quietly that she had stolen her mother’s diadem. Tom had heard and read about Ravenclaw’s lost diadem. It had not been seen by anyone alive in centuries, this explained why.

The woman told him why she had stolen it, and how her mother had gotten ill and demanded to see her. Baron, who had loved her for a long time had been sent after her but she had refused to come back and in rage he had killed her then himself.

Tom grimaced as he heard that. Explains the bloodied robe of his house’s ghost.

She then told him where she had hidden the diadem; in a forest in Albania. She told him exactly where she had hidden it and politely asked him to get it back from there.

“You can tell the headmaster but I want you to have it. You wouldn’t abuse it’s power. Your intelligence can even rival my mother’s. You’d respect it as it should have been. I only request you to keep it with you. My mother would’ve liked her possession to be with the person who had Helga’s treasure too.”

Tom didn’t know what to say. He really didn’t want to keep all of these treasures. Salazar’s locket and ring were his but the others…

He closed his eyes for a minute, when he opened them he nodded at the Grey Lady.

“Alright, I’ll do as you wish, Lady Ravenclaw.”

Helena smiled a little, “Charlotte trusted you with her family’s heirloom. I can trust you with mine…no.” She looked disgusted with herself.  “I have no right to say it’s mine when I stole it from my dear mother. Caused great grief and agony to her and father.” She shook her head and continued, “I can trust you with my mother’s legacy.”

Tom nodded at her and she thanked him again before going on her way.

 

* * *

 

That weekend he apparated to Albania and then to the forest which had the diadem. It wasn’t difficult to find because of his locator spell. He found it within minutes.

“Well, looks like you are going home.”

He smiled a little at the great historical artifact in his hands and apparated back to Hogwarts. The diadem was beautiful and he couldn’t help but smile at the eagle carving on it. He remembered his friend and his smile widened.

 

Next day, he told Dumbledore about it; he could see the Grey lady fidgeting in the corner.

The headmaster sighed as he heard his former student. After a while, he smiled kindly at Helena.

“It’s alright. I would like to think your mother forgave you for your deed.”

 

Helena closed her eyes and nodded slowly. Dumbledore them turned to him and summoned Godric Gryffindor’s sword. There was a twinkle in his blue eyes now.

Tom scowled. He knew he wouldn’t like what the man will say now.

 

“How about you keep Godric’s treasure too? After all it appeared in front of you when you had the need of it, Tom. And it hasn’t disappeared since. You have your ancestor’s ring and locket, Helga’s cup, Rowena’s diadem. Why not the sword too?”

 

Helena’s eyes widened as she heard that the young man was Salazar’s descendant. She had known all of them. She remembers Salazar, Godric and Helga visiting their house and playing with her. They’d all been very happy at one point. They’d cared for her like she was their own blood.

 

Tom kept on scowling but in the end accepted the offer. Dumbledore clapped his hands twice and asked the house elves for some sweets.

Tom shook his head at his professor. “I don’t understand why my cabinet is turning into Hogwarts founder’s heirlooms new home.”

Dumbledore just smiled again and the two enjoyed their dessert. Helena smiled to herself and gave herself a mental pat as she left the two.

Her decision was right.

* * *

 

That day Tom looked at his cabinet and shook his head. Godric’s sword was now lying beside the locket and diadem. He knew the sword would disappear if anyone else had the need for it. But for now it was his.

“Oh well.”

 

He knew he had been bestowed a great honour and he will always strive to be worthy of that trust and respect.

The heirlooms of Hogwarts founders were priceless artifacts. He knew any witch or wizard would give their entire fortunes for it.

He was proud of himself.

 

He looked at all them again and smiled a little. He told Shesh Naga and Nagini about them. Shesha became nostalgic since he knew all of them like Helena.

[“You should be honoured, Tom. It’s a great honour to have those artifacts.”]

Tom nodded and continued to pet Garuda and Nagini.

 

* * *

 

Virgil had to be dragged away from the room by him and Hugue after a week. Their fellow colleague had fallen for the enchantment of the Mirror of Erised. He kept on crying for his siblings and father who had been killed during Grindelwald’s reign.

The mirror was unique, all of them knew about it. It showed nothing but most desperate and deepest desire of a person’s heart. The happiest person was the one who saw himself in it as they were. Many wizards and witches had gone mad because of it. None of them wanted Virgil to suffer the same fate.

The room would be placed under a disillusioned spell and warded so that no one would see the mirror or enter the room by mistake. It was placed in one of the rooms of the Thought chamber.

Virgil was ordered by Elenore and Rodolf to go to St Mungos immediately. He needed to see a mind healer. Hugue and Agnes took their friend all the while making sure he was okay.

 

Tom himself had studied it and was glad that he had seen himself as he was.

He had everything.

He didn’t need anything anymore.

 

Even Rodolf and Elenore had shed tears when they'd stood in front of it. Rodolf had seen his dead wife while Elenore had seen her dead mother.

 

* * *

 

Tom looked at the three boys with raised eyebrows who were trying to look like harmless kittens.

Yeah right. That was a beginning of a very bad joke.

James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were troublemakers.  They weren’t innocent in any way. Though he had seen Lupin was sometimes dragged along by the other two, but he was sure the boy was as much of a mischief maker as his two best friends.

He’d been told by Lancelot, an irate McGonagall, a disturbed Sprout and a wary Dumbledore that the three second year Gryffindor’s were always up to something or the other.

 

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Tom asked the three who blushed a little when they realized they wouldn’t be getting out of this by behaving in a cute manner.

He was amused to see his former classmate’s son though. Sirius and his little brother, Regulus resembled their father.  Regulus was nine years old. He had seen their family photograph in the Daily Prophet a year ago. Blacks were an influential family, one of the Sacred twenty eight. He had mentally scoffed at that. Bunch of inbreds.

Orion’s parents had a daughter at a very late age. They had died two years after Lucretia Black’s birth. Orion and his bigoted wife, Walburga were responsible for her too now. She was two years older than Sirius.

 

He had also noticed Lestrange’s, Nott’s and Malfoy’s kids.

He was a little shocked that they weren’t….completely bigots like their parents had been. Oh, they thought they were better than everyone; the sneers were ever present on their faces, because they were purebloods. But Rodolphus Lestrange, Theodred Nott and Lucius Malfoy didn’t outright call anyone mudblood. Neither were they averse to talking to them. They respected half-bloods as much purebloods.

Tom had smirked when he had noticed their behavior.

Seems like they’d learned their lesson from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are finally progressing. 
> 
> I wanted Tom to have the founder's artifacts.


	14. Chapter 14

He still sometimes exchanged a letter or two with the parents, mostly during the holidays. The four of them always sent him gifts without fail. That was some dedication they had to him. He had sent his best wishes and wedding gifts when they four had gotten married; he knew why the the four did not invite him for the actual ceremony. And, he wasn’t cruel enough to go to the event even if he had been invited. He knew they still liked him and he had no intention of rubbing salt on their wounds. He had hoped and wished they would live a good life.

Sadly, that hadn’t been the case. He had no idea why Orion had married a woman who abused her own child.

He could understand Abraxas’s devotion to him. The man had been ill with dragon pox for a while and it was because of him and his creations; the restorative spell and potion, that the man was cured.

He’d also seen Orion and his wife/cousin, Walburga were always in some or the other scandal.

The two were in his opinion, not fit to raise three kids.

 

He’d heard from his fellow teachers, that sometimes when Sirius came back from home, he had bruises on his cheeks and hands. Everyone knew the reason and even when some had asked Sirius to get help, the boy had just brushed it off with a grin.

 

_“It’s okay. She got what was coming to her. She was insulted by father after she did this. She won’t be opening her horrendous mouth for a while.” He grinned wryly as he answered Flitwick and Minerva. “I am used to it by now. Dad humiliates her after she beats up me or shouts at Reggie.”_

 

It was clear from what he’d heard that the father didn’t really care for anyone. Orion was indifferent. When Walburga hit Sirius or his brother, she got verbally abused by her husband. Their fights had even been in the papers. It was clear why they fought.

 

The woman wanted to raise the kids in vile Pureblood customs, while the father didn’t give a fuck about anyone or anything. Lucretia was technically, not her kid; so she didn’t raise her hand on her.

 

He didn’t understand why Sirius and Regulus were treated that way. That was plain inhuman. At least, Orion had enough sense not to let his wife get away with her nonsense. But did that really matter? The woman should be locked up and Orion should see a mind healer.

 

He shook himself out of his reverie and concentrated on the scene in front of him. The whole corridor had been flooded and it appeared as if it wasn’t. That was clever piece of magic, he had to give them that. But in the end, anyone could have slipped and hurt themselves badly. He gazed at the three who were looking at him with big eyes.

 

“Sorry professor,” the three boys said in a very soft voice. Tom snorted as he noticed their expressions and voice. He smirked and the three gulped when they realized their tactics won’t work on him.

 

“The big eyes won’t work on me.” He smiled in amusement as the three averted their eyes. “Detention for two weeks and hundred points from Gryffindor.” They looked up at him incredulously but he paid them no mind and continued. “Each day with a different teacher. And two hours on weekends with me.”

The two brunettes literally whined as they heard that, though Lupin accepted it with a nod muttering it was much less than they deserved.

“You are correct Mr. Lupin, anyone could have been injured badly. I am being lenient.” He let the smirk drop and narrowed his eyes at the three. “Having fun is good, but you three will be expelled if a student is injured grievously. Do you really want to gamble with your fellow school mates's lives?”

The three flinched at that and did not smile again. They quietly went back to the Gryffindor Tower. The three looked at each other before sleeping. They didn't need words to communicate with each other. They resolved not to do any more harmful pranks. Their goal was to have fun; not injure someone.

 

* * *

 

The three Marauders then made extra sure to not be caught by Professor Riddle. None of them wanted the immortal wizard angry. They knew about him. Everyone did. It was a bad idea to make him angry. And they didn’t want to be expelled if something happened. In their hearts, even they knew some of their pranks were just plain horrible.

McGonagall had suspended them for two weeks before; they knew if they will not stop, the Headmaster will expel them. None of the teachers were amused by their pranks.

And they really really didn’t want Tom Riddle to be upset. They admired the man but they were also afraid of him.

 

He was the reason why some Dark spells were now practiced without restraint. This had opened the doors for others too. Veelas, Vampires and Werewolves had all the rights of wizards and witches. Though, the last two had to swore an oath not to harm wizards or non magic people. Werewolves who wanted to work, had to take Wolfsbane potion once a month. Vampires were forbidden to take blood by having someone in their thrall. If a wizard or witch gave it away freely, that was different. It was very easy to discover if a wizard was in thrall.

House Elves, Merpeople and other creatures who interacted with Wizards were also respected nowadays.

Very few House elves didn’t like only doing work; they were given a Sickle a month for their services. Dobby was such one. Abraxas Malfoy had freed him because of his constant whining. The news had been in the papers. Tom Riddle had been amused by the elf so he had bounded the elf to his house.  Sirius had seen his father smiling in amusement at Lucius’s dad. The latter literally had his head in his hands.

_“I don’t want him. I just can’t deal with him. I can’t. I’ll go mad, Orion,” Abraxas whined at his friend. Dobby was driving him crazy with his liberty speeches.  
_

The papers had reported the elf was very happy these days. Though, the majority still didn’t want any fee for their work. It was also observed that now the elves were given clean clothes to wear and were treated with respect.

That hadn’t happened before.

Sirius still didn’t like Kreacher though. He was way too into his mother. Regulus had talked to him and now the elf wasn’t downright mean to him.

 

* * *

 

Tom was surprised that Slytherins and Gryffindors still had DADA, Potions and Transfiguration together. It seemed that little tidbit hadn’t changed since his time.

He was teaching the third years how to tackle Boggarts, when he again saw something which shook him. It was Sirius’s turn to face the creature and the boy flinched when it turned into his mother. In front of the whole classroom, the boggart Walburga Black started spewing vitriol at Sirius. The woman was about to strike him and he’d had enough by then. Sirius hadn't moved an inch. He had noticed the kid was about to cry.  

He stepped in front of the boggart and immediately it turned. There was a piece of parchment on the floor.

Even after all these years, his fear still remained the same. He flicked his wand and the writing changed again.

 

Sirius started cracking jokes by the end of class, but the whole class had noticed his red eyes.

“You don’t have to laugh, Black. Your mother is pathetic. Whatever that banshee said was utter garbage,” Rodolphus said to his class partner.

 

Sirius flinched a little but didn’t try to make jokes again. He kept his eyes on the wall and didn’t talk to anyone for the rest of the class. James and Remus gathered him in his arms as soon as the class ended. Sirius nodded at Rodolphus before going to his next class. Tom looked at the three Gryffindors back and knew he wouldn't have to involve himself. James and Remus will take care of their friend.

 

* * *

 

Tom had to stifle his laughter as he saw the scene in the Great Hall. 

Sirius was blushing furiously as he got more flowers and chocolates from his admirer. The fifteen year old kept on shooting dark looks at Rodolphus, who was smirking at the Slytherin table.

He could see the older Lestrange brother smiling smugly, while his younger brother, Rabastan and Barty Crouch Jr were trying to stifle their laughter. Lucius, Narcissa and Theodred were howling with laughter.

Even Regulus was smiling a little with Severus Snape, Lily Evans and Alice who were sitting across from Sirius.

But Tom found Sirius’s best friends reactions odd. James was snickering while Remus looked a little sad.

 

* * *

 

Tom had to purse his lips as he saw the seventh year Slytherin girl approach Severus, who as usual turned pale and blurted out some excuse and ran in the opposite direction.

He found it really funny that Severus always ran whenever Lucretia Black approached him. He had seen the boy liked Lily Evans from Gryffindor, but he had also seen that she liked James Potter. He had a good laugh at the teen’s expense. But he was sure for them it wasn’t amusing.

Sirius, Rodolphus and Remus were another trio whose  relationship amused him very much. Lestrange liked Black heir a lot. Even he could see that. He had also read that news in the Daily prophet, in which the sixteen year old had declined the proposal of Druella Rosier. Apparently, the woman had wanted to marry her daughter, Bellatrix to Rodolphus.

 

_[ Dear readers, Samantha Skeeter brings you yet another scandal._

_Bellatrix Black is apparently enamored with Rodolphus Lestrange, who has zero interest in her. He turned her down vehemently in front of their families, shouting he had no affection for her and that he likes Sirius Black. They will not be getting engaged. Bellatrix would be better off marrying the one she really likes, Antonin Dolohov. He will not be her toy._

_Bellatrix Black had turned murderous when Sirius’s name was mentioned, but a cold glare from Lestrange heir had quelled her._

_Needless to say, Bellatrix’s mother was very angry by this insult while her father, Cygnus Black didn’t care either way. We all know Cygnus had divorced his wife years ago and had married his friend, the famous potioneer, part Veela, Johann Delacour._

_This was after Druella’s affair with Mulciber and Lord Greengrass was revealed._

_Walburga Black’s screams were horrible to hear when she’d learned her son was being pursued by the Lestrange heir. Orion Black could not stop his laughter while Ellair Lestrange and Rachel Nott had tried to stop their son from making another racket. Rodolphus Lestrange had looked ready to kill Walburga as she had started insulting her own son. ]_

 

* * *

 

Severus Snape was in a bad mood. He felt ill as he saw his class partner/ best friend/ object of affection, Lily chatting with James. He finally sighed, it was tiring to be so angry. In the end, he couldn’t really do anything. At least, they were still best of friends. And if Lily likes Potter, well, nothing he can do about it. You like who you like. His mom had also liked his dad, but after the little shit had revealed his true colours, she had taken him back to her parents.

Though, he really wanted Sirius’s aunt, [Merlin’s beard, what were Regulus’s grandparents thinking] Lucretia to stop flirting with him. He did not like her in that way. His fellow Slytherin was very nice and sweet, but…he didn’t like her in that way.

Sirius and Remus were talking in hushed tones and it was clear to anyone that Sirius was getting angrier with each sentence.

Tom Riddle noticed Ellair’s son, Rodolphus looking at Sirius with a very soft expression on his face while Lucius was patting his back.

 

This was interesting but he had a class to teach. Their love life had nothing to do with him or the lesson. It would be in their best interest if they kept their hormones out of his class. He got up from his chair and most of the students stopped talked.

"I'll appreciate if you give your attention to the lesson now, instead to your crushes.” He smirked as all the culprits turned red in embarrassment.

“Today we’ll be learning one spell which is usually tested in your OWL’s.”

The students listened with rapt attention as Professor Riddle explained how to produce a Patronus. Each and every one of them admired and respected their two month DADA teacher.

Rodolphus, Lucius, Theodred and Sirius could understand why their fathers had fallen for the man. Yes, the four knew and had accepted the fact long ago that their fathers will always like Tom Riddle.

 

Rabastan and Rodolphus’s parents cared for each other but the kids were under no allusion that they loved each other. They knew their father had only ever felt anything for Tom Marvolo Riddle. Their mother was fine with it. As long as their marriage vows were true, she didn’t care. She in fact teased their father sometimes.

 

Abraxas’s wife, Lady Davis was a kind lady and had accepted that her husband cared for Tom Riddle a lot. She remembered the very handsome boy from her school days who preferred the company of his eagle and Evan Scamander. He was a very polite boy, highly intelligent and loved by all teachers.

Theirs was an arranged marriage and she knew her husband loved her but she also knew she or anyone else could never take the place of Tom Riddle in her husband’s heart. She was indebted to the immortal man because he was the reason Abraxas was alive.

The wizarding world had shook when Tom Riddle had found the cure to Dragon Pox. Everyone knew it was because of Galatea Merrythought. Her old DADA teacher. They all knew how much Tom Riddle had respected her.

The Unspeakable was the only wizard in existence to be allowed another profession.  The wizard was also the reason why Dark magic was not seen as abhorrent anymore. Many spells were removed from the ban because of Tom Marvolo Riddle. The man was also notorious for not talking to anyone.

There were many in the wizarding world who called the man egoist, arrogant and proud. The only known wizard to have created a Philosopher’s stone after Nicolas Flamel. It scared them that he had created it in his twenties. Not to mention his stone had given him eternal youth too. But none of them dared to say anything else. He was revered as he was feared. They all knew the man was accomplished in Dark magic and Light magic. No one wanted to cross him.

His burgundy eyes were proof of that.

That could only happen when a person dabbles into very dark magic. The rumour was there that they turned blood red when the wizard was angry.

There was also the fact that he had the friendship of Albus Dumbledore, the wizard who’d defeated the greatest dark wizard, Grindelwald. Horace Slughorn, retired potions master had nothing but praise for his former student.  All of Tom Riddle’s teachers had nothing but good things to say about him.

 

Sirius had known who Tom Riddle was since his father had talked a lot about him. He had even admitted to him, Regulus and Lucretia that he cared for the immortal wizard a lot.

Theodred had been told by his mother that his father used to have a crush on their junior. His father had been very put out for the whole day. It was embarrassing. But his mother had also told him that his father respected very few people and Tom Riddle was no. 1 on that list.

 

“I know I am very handsome, but I would still like to know why you are staring at me?” Tom asked Rodolphus, Sirius, Lucius and Theodred. He had to suppress his grin as the four immediately looked away from him. The four were shaken out of their thoughts as soon as they heard the very man’s voice whom they had been thinking about.

The four blushed in embarrassment and lowered their head. They could hear Severus, Lily, Remus and James snickering to their right.

 

Tom smirked at the four but continued with the lesson.

 

“It has to be a very powerful happy memory, though I don’t think the dementors will be attacking you all, but it’s always a good thing to be cautious.”

Tom grinned to himself as he remembered two of his older students, the twins; Marion and Micheil Moody. They had agreed with him too. It made sense since they were Alastor Moody’s nephew and niece. He smiled fondly as he remembered how the two kids had furiously nodded at what he had said at the time.

_“Yes, sir. Constant vigilance is the key to a safe life. Uncle always tells us to be on our guard.”_

 

Tom hadn’t expected anyone to produce anything and he wasn’t disappointed. They didn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry for the delay. It usually doesn't take me ten days to upload a new chapter. I hope everyone enjoys it !
> 
> Italics : Flashbacks
> 
> And, I know Antonin Dolohov was one of the original Death Eaters, but here he was born much later.
> 
> Warning : mention of child abuse [beatings and verbal abuse]


	15. Chapter 15

“Well, this is your homework then. You are all going to practice the patronus charm and right a two and a half foot long essay on it. Next week, we are going to practice producing it again. Remember, the key is to visualize a very happy memory.”

The students nodded and with a swish of his hand, he wandlessly produced his.

Most of them knew what his patronus was, but it still amused him when all of their mouths opened in shock. His silver griffin was beside him and he had to grin when not one student got up.

“Holy shit ! That’s really a griffin. I knew what it was, but still…a griffin.” James Potter whispered while looking at his professor and the giant silver beast beside him with stars in his eyes. A griffin...

Even Severus who was usually quiet, looked gobsmacked. Hearing about one thing and seeing it with your own eyes was quite different.

 

Frank Longbottom raised his hand then and Tom nodded at him.

“Sir, I-I. That’s incredible. Wizards rarely have a magical beast as a patronus.”

 

Tom nodded at the Gryffindor. “Yes, Mr. Longbottom. Only I and headmaster Dumbledore have mythical beasts as muggles put it as our patronus.”

As if on cue, Fawkes and Garuda flew in and landed on his shoulders. He caressed their heads as they nipped his ears and nuzzled his hair affectionately.

 

Alice looked at headmaster’s phoenix and her eyes brightened. She whispered something to her partner and both the girls raised their hands. Tom nodded at them to speak.

“It’s a phoenix, isn’t it professor? Headmaster Dumbledore’s patronus?”

Tom smiled a little at the two witches. “Yes. You are correct. Ten points to both of you. ” 

They brightened and the whole class left with a bounce in their steps. They resolved to work hard and produce a patronus.

 

By next class, few of them managed to produce wisps of silver.

 

By next month, they could all produce a silver shield.

 

In his last class for the year, he could see most of them were sad that they hadn’t produced anything even close to a corporeal patronus.

 

“It’s a very advanced form of magic. You should be proud you are able to produce this at your stage.” Tom said to the class who still looked morose.

He sighed, he knew what will cheer them up.

 

“I am sure by your seventh year you’ll be able to produce corporeal ones.”

They all brightened and thanked him profusely. Many of them bowed their heads and said it was an honour to be taught by him.

 

That day Lancelot teased him endlessly while the other teachers and the headmaster snickered.  “They love you more than me, you know. Even though all of them receive abysmal grades by you.” The DADA professor said with amusement in his eyes.

Tom shook his head but everyone could see he was happy with the compliment. Lancelot hadn’t been exaggerating, he wasn’t very generous with the  marks he gave.

 

* * *

 

Tom really didn’t want to know about his students personal lives. He sighed as he looked at the three in his NEWT class.

Apparently, Sirius was now dating Rodolphus and Remus had been bitten by a werewolf. That’s why he had been reluctant to date Sirius.

He had heard their argument near the Room of requirement three weeks ago. He’d needed a particular book which was there in the Room immediately but had stopped himself from interrupting them.

_The two were shouting at the top of their voices, at least Orion’s son was. Lupin was avoiding looking in his eyes._

_He made himself invisible and waited for the two to finish their conversation._

_“Don’t do this Moony, you are hurting me.” Sirius clenched his hands, his voice maybe hard as steel but there were tears shining in his eyes._

_Remus flinched as he registered the look of utter anguish  on Sirius’s face. He wasn’t a true werewolf since he had not been bitten on a full moon when he was a kid. But he did have some characteristics. He didn’t want to hurt Sirius who he really liked and would have dated in a heartbeat if he didn’t have this problem. Werewolves weren’t treated badly anymore and he definitely wouldn’t be. But he was still scared. No one in the school knew he had been bitten. Their treatment might not be as horrendous as before but still some people were mean._

_Remus shook his head and Sirius’s shoulders slumped in defeat. He quietly walked back towards his dorm._

_Lupin stood there for a minute then he went in the opposite direction, hands clenched into fists._

* * *

 

Tom had come to Hogsmeade to get gifts for Evan and his family. It was a coincidence that he saw Rodolphus sitting with Sirius near the Shrieking shack in Hogsmeade. Sirius was resting his head on Rodolphus's shoulder. Rest of there gang was sitting in the area too. Lupin was sitting with Lucretia, looking at nothing. Further away, an annoyed Severus was glaring at a book, Lucius was dozing off on Narcissa's shoulder. She was the only one who was relaxed.  A little behind them James, Regulus, Rabastan and Lily were talking rapidly.

 

Rodolphus looked at Sirius and sighed. They were happy together. Sirius liked him enough to date him, but he knew the guy he liked really liked another. They’d gotten together last November and had been together for a year now.

He knew Sirius felt something for him but he wasn’t stupid enough to think he could take Lupin’s place. They’d talked before they’d started to date.

 

_Rodolphus smiled softly at the beauty in front of him. “If you really don’t want to date, that’s fine. I’ll stop sending you flowers and other things.”_

_Sirius shook his head. “No, I- I do like you but…”_

_Sirius tried to pull his hair in frustration, but Rodolphus put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “You like Lupin, don’t you?” Rodolphus asked him._

_Sirius didn’t say anything, but just looked at the handsome Slytherin who had a few inches on his 5’10.  When he did speak, his voice was uncharacteristically soft._

_“It’s not fair to you, Lestrange. I do like you. You are a good friend, I enjoy your company. I like you a lot. And, that’s why I can’t do this to you.” Sirius said with resolve in his eyes. It would be cruel to date him. He wasn't his mother.  
_

_Rodolphus laughed and shook his head._

_“Let me decide for myself, Sirius. If you don’t regret being with me, than that’s enough for me.”_

_Sirius looked at him with an unreadable gaze. After a while he said, he needed a week’s time._

 

_Sirius decided he’d date Rodolphus since he did like him. And, he will not think of Remus anymore. Remus will always be a good friend but he cannot force Remus to date him. He understood where Remus was coming from. He may not like it, but he got it.  
_

_James, he and Remus are the Marauders. They will always be that. They will always be the best of friends no matter what. He told them straight away that he is going to date Rodolphus._

_They were very happy for him._

_“He cares for you a lot. I am sure you’ll be okay.” Remus ruffled Sirius hair and the Black heir sighed in relief. James kissed his forehead and the three decided to celebrate in Room of Requirement, just them._

_Lupin knew it would hurt but he was happy for his friend. Sirius would be happy with Lestrange, isn’t that what mattered the most ?  
_

_James knew about Sirius and Remus, but if the two had resolved their issues, then he had no issue either. He will support his friends in whatever way he can._

 

_Rodolphus’s face lit up as Sirius kissed him on the cheek the next day.  
_

 

* * *

 

Tom smiled a little when he saw the photograph of Remus and Sirius in the Daily Prophet. In the end, Sirius had married Lupin. It's been ten years since the Marauder’s had graduated from Hogwarts. They were bright, no question about that. The three of them had loitered around the castle in James Potter’s Invisibility Cloak and that’s how they’d created the special map of Hogwarts.  It was an ingenious piece of work. Even he can admit that; it was brilliant.  He’d laughed when he’d seen the shocked looks on the three seventh years when he’d revealed the secret of their old parchment.  He had figured the three thought no one would be able to read the map.

 

_The three seventh years dreaded the next words from their Professor, but their mouths opened in shock when the beautiful, forever twenty eight year old started laughing._

_“This is brilliant, Mr. Potter, Mr. Lupin and Mr. Black. I am astounded by the sheer amount of work put into this. This is very good use of magic. I am impressed.”_

_He noticed their frightened eyes and  grinned in amusement._

_“Don’t worry, I won’t expel you. But, I would like it very much if you take it with you back home. If it’s found in school, I’ll confiscate it. It’s a dangerous thing in unsavory people’s hands.”_

_The three nodded quickly and were even more surprised when Professor Riddle awarded them fifty points each._

_The three left for the Gryffindor tower in high spirits._

_Sirius could tell his boyfriend was surprised by his passionate kiss. Rodolphus looked at him with an amused grin on his face, but he just shook his head. "It's a secret, darling." Rodolphus rolled his eyes and pulled him in for another kiss._

 

A lot had changed since then. Lancelot had retired and Quirrell was teaching DADA now.

Tom thought Quinus Quirrell was hilarious. He couldn’t get two words out without stuttering. Sprout and Snape, who was now teaching Potions had told him it was because of the vampires the man had met in Albania on his journey. McGonagall and Professor Vector thought with time he might get better, so did Dumbledore.

Tom didn’t understand why he was scared though. Sanguini was a good acquaintance of his. The vampire was intelligent and charming when he wasn’t suffering from thirst. Vampires were alright in his eyes. He liked them a lot.  

Or maybe the reason he wasn’t scared of anyone was because everyone in the wizarding world feared him as much as they respected him.

But the most surprising thing was that Hagrid had taken up the position of Care of Magical Creature’s professor. He had passed the inspection of the governors and headmaster with flying colors.

Tom had smiled a little when he had greeted Hagrid. It was good the man had stopped at the right time. If he hadn’t, there was no way in hell he would’ve become a professor. He would have been expelled and his career would have been ruined.

Hagrid laughed raucously as Tom, Sprout and Quirrell congratulated him. Minerva and Dumbledore just shook their heads while Snape looked between wanting to sneer and shake his head. Other staff members looked amused. Kettleburn was laughing with his successor as well. The ex COMC teacher was very impressed with Hagrid’s work.

 

* * *

 

Tom didn’t know why Snape, Lucretia, Snape’s fiancée now, and Dumbledore were so worried.

He had received the headmaster’s patronus in his office that a child had fallen from the stairs in the ancestral Black home. Prior to that, he had touched a dangerous artefact which had rendered him unconscious.

Tom quickly shot his patronus and sent a message to Virgil that he would be leaving for St Mungo’s immediately. If there was any problem, they should contact him there.

Snape and Lucretia looked grave, that was the first thing Tom noticed. He was surprised to see Orion and Walburga sitting with their heads in their hands; Rabastan Lestrange was holding his boyfriend, Regulus Black who was minutes away from crying. Rodolphus and his husband, Barty Crouch Jr were trying to calm down Sirius and Remus.

Tom had a feeling he knew who the kid was now.

He looked at Dumbledore, who immediately pointed at the couple standing near the bed and his suspicions were proven true as he recognized the couple standing there. James Potter and his wife, Lily Potter.

They were crying.

So, he was right.

Snape got up and he and Dumbledore explained what had happened.

Harry Potter, their three year old son had ventured off on his own in the  Black ancestral home. He had touched some sort of cursed object and had dazedly tried to reach his parents when he had fallen from the stairs. There was a bright flash of light and when the others had found him, there was a wound on his forehead, bleeding profusely.

The healers had managed to stop the bleeding, but the little boy had not regained consciousness. After an hour, when the wound had again started bleeding, the healers had asked Dumbledore to call Unspeakable Riddle. Dumbledore and Snape had both failed at stopping the bleeding.

 

Tom slowly walked to his former students and politely asked them to step aside. The two’s sobs quieted a little as they noticed him.

“Please, save him.” James and Lily said with tears running down their cheeks.

Tom clenched his hands and nodded. He looked at Snape and headmaster and the two dragged the parents to the godfathers.

 

He looked at the frail child and promised himself he would do his best to save the kid.

Tom closed his eyes and placed his hand on the forehead of the boy. He closed his eyes and gently penetrated his mind. He would have to see for himself what had happened.

After a minute, he started murmuring in ancient Greek and Latin.

Harry's body glowed white for full five minutes while Tom was muttering in ancient tongues.

After a minute, Tom started hissing in parseltongue and by now all the people’s eyes had widened. The two healers were gobsmacked as they saw Riddle hissing. He was doing magic in parseltongue. They could all feel the intense magic in the room.

Except for Dumbledore and Orion, no one knew Tom Riddle was a parselmouth.

After fifteen minutes, Harry looked a little better.

The lightning bolt scar looked old and worn now, when before it had looked fresh and raw.

James and Lily noted their son’s improved state and immediately their face broke into relieved smiles. Sirius closed his eyes and thanked every deity there was that their Harry was alright. Remus squeezed his husband’s shoulder and Sirius gave him a watery smile.

Harry will be alright.

 Snape, Dumbledore, Lucretia, Regulus, Rodolphus, Rabastan and Barty sighed as they noticed that Harry looked better now.

Orion shook his head while his wife smiled a little. In last five years, she had tried to redeem herself. She was happy that the child looked better than before. She and Orion had talked that they would dispose of every dark artifact in their house. They didn’t want Harry to be in danger. He was as good as their grandson.

Tom then asked about the object that Harry had touched and Orion and Walburga quickly explained that they themselves never went in that room. It was an old dark artifact which had been in their family for generations.

Tom nodded absently and prodded Harry’s forehead and chest with his wand, a yellow light enveloped the kid on the bed. After fifteen minutes, the light disappeared and everyone could see Harry was sleeping peacefully now.

 

Tom looked back at James and Lily and smiled a little. “Your son is going to be fine. I have removed the remnants of the curse, but I am afraid the scar will remain with him for life.”

The two shook their heads and thanked him profusely.

“We don’t care if he has a scar.” Lily sobbed while Snape and Lucretia put a comforting hand on her shoulders.

Sirius and Remus hugged James who then went and shook Riddle’s hands.

“I don’t know how to thank you.” James said earnestly to the Unspeakable.

Tom shook his head and waved away James’s concerns. This was nothing.

 

This curse on the other hand, it was very ancient and peculiar. There have only been two or three times it had been used by sorcerers. The victims had died a very horrible and painful death all those three times. He didn’t think he should tell that to the parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the chapter many of you were waiting for. Harry is finally in the story. He was not in a good state, but he's fine now. Tom saved him from certain death. 
> 
> Thanks so much for all the kudos, bookmarks, subscriptions and comments.
> 
> Enjoy the chapter ! 
> 
> Flashback : Italics


	16. Chapter 16

Tom waved his hand and sealed the room. He noticed the puzzled expressions of everyone in the room and gestured for them to take a sit.

“We all need to discuss something.” All of them nodded and Dumbledore conjured comfortable chairs for all of them.

 

“I would like it if you didn’t tell your son that I saved his life.” Tom said bluntly to the parents. “And, it would be best if you never tell anyone about this incident. This should remain between the people in this room.”

Potters and the elder Blacks were about to say something when Tom shook his head at them. He noticed that Sirius and Remus hadn’t said anything neither the Lestrange brothers. Regulus and Barty looked surprised though. He remembered them from their school days. They had practically worshiped the ground he'd walked on. They still do.

Snape, Lucretia and Dumbledore had no idea what Tom was talking about. They looked at each other in confusion, unable to understand the reasoning behind such a request.

 

“It’s best not to tell the child that he had been so close to death. That wouldn’t bode well for anyone. Just tell him he fell and the healers healed him. It will scare Harry needlessly. ” Tom looked at their flabbergasted expressions and decided to just tell them the truth. There was no point in hiding it.

The others didn’t know what to say to the Unspeakable, they had no retort. Tom Riddle was right, they shouldn’t tell Harry anything.

Harry was a three year old kid, he might be traumatized if he knew. Though, they would have to make sure that Harry didn’t wander off again. Lily and James looked at each other and nodded at each other.

Harry had to be taught vigilance and safety. The boy was way too curious for his own good.  Harry was always so happy and adventurous, even though he talked little to others. He was only close to people in the room and to Neville Longbottom.

 

They nodded slowly at the Unspeakable and Tom gave them a small smile.

 

He then looked at the two healers and gestured to their wands, “I’ll be making a report, but I want you two to swear you will not speak about this incident to anyone. I will send in the details on how to tackle such curses. Though, I doubt any of you could master the spells. The curse was developed and practiced in Ancient Greece long time ago. It has dire consequences so it was banned. It’s a very evil spell. It’s only because of my travels and research I was able to eliminate it. It requires powerful dark magic and parseltongue incantations to counteract it. There had been no survivors until now. ”

The two healers nodded and promised not to tell anyone. Even though it wasn’t his intention to tell them the truth, there was little point in hiding it. He then explained that the curse killed the person slowly and over the days. Harry didn’t feel the effects since they had called him immediately.  It was a combination of the Killing curse, Cruciatus curse and the Withering curse. The Avada Kedavra elements will surely kill the victim, the Cruciatus like features made the victim scream in agony for days and the Withering curse destroyed the body from the inside.

 

He heard James and Lily Potter whimper and clenched his hands into fists as he saw their tear filled eyes. Yeah, his first choice was better but now they will be careful. Orion and Walburga were pale white, he could see his former schoolmate and his wife were about to blame themselves for Harry’s state.

Tom glanced at all the people in the room and he was sure everyone understood why he was telling them to keep this a secret. No one in the room will speak about this again. Each and every one of them was scared. Yes, even Dumbledore. It was rare his teacher was that scared.

Before leaving, he asked Orion and his wife to get rid of unnecessary stuff in their house. The two promised to throw everything out. It wouldn’t bode well for anyone if Harry again found some other dark artifact.

Tom went back to Harry and smiled a little at the messy haired kid sleeping peacefully.

“You’ll be alright, Harry.”

He nodded at everyone in the room and went back to the Department of Mysteries.

 

* * *

 

 

Harry Potter was born on 31 July to Lily Evans Potter and James Fleamont Potter. The boy looked like an angel with his beautiful green eyes and messy black hair which he had inherited from his father. His green eyes were like his mother.

Harry was simply… good. He was an adorable boy who was loved by his family and their friends. His father was an Auror and was usually busy but he took time out to be with his family. Lily Potter was an author who had special knack for charms and potions. She and her friend, Severus worked together a lot at her apothecary in Diagon Alley and she also wrote books on charms.

 

Harry’s grandparents had passed away when he was two years old but they had loved him very much. Euphemia and Fleamont Potter had been overjoyed when Harry had been born. But unfortunately Fleamont had been in an accident and had died on the spot. His wife passed away two months after him in her sleep.

 

Sirius was Harry’s godfather and he loved the green eyed kid like his own son. His husband, Remus Lupin adored Harry and was usually the one who took him out with Sirius and Lucretia when his mother was busy.

Because of Sirius and James friendship, Harry was a regular guest at the Grimmauld Place. Regulus was very fond of Harry and he and his boyfriend made a point to always play with him. Rabastan Lestrange was usually very quiet unlike his older brother but the little kid made him want to make noise.

 

Barty was usually not there at the house because of his job, but his husband Rodolphus was always present whenever family gathering took place. He thought the kid was hilarious. Harry was usually quiet but when he found something interesting he was uncontrollable.

 

Orion Black had softened in his old age and made a point to give Harry lots of treats. His wife had started changing when both of her sons had literally shouted at her face.

_“You’ll die alone, woman. No one will care for you. Nor your sons nor your husband. How will your Pureblood help you then?”_

These words had literally stuck the woman.

 

When Sirius married Lupin who had been bitten by a werewolf, Walburga had been angry.

That was putting it mildly, she had been livid. Sirius hadn’t really cared.

It was only later she had understood what she was doingto her family. Her son loved Lupin and if the young man made him happy, then that's all that mattered. She certainly had never made her children and family happy. Sirius and Rodolphus had broken up after five years of dating. But they were still very very good friends.

 

When Regulus had announced he was seeing Rabastan, she had been overcome with grief. Her kids had grown and she hadn’t been a part of their life. All she had done was abuse her own children. She was disgusted with herself. She had actually hit them because they hadn’t agreed with her repulsive ideals.

She knew they will leave her one day if she will not give up her horrendous ideals. Her husband had smiled at her for the first time in their long life together when she’d apologised to him. After that, she had apologized to her sons. They didn’t forgive their parents quickly. It took five long years for them to be alright.

 

Walburga had given Harry a beautiful Gobstones set when James and Lily had brought Harry to Sirius's house. For the first time in her life, she had felt peace when the little two year old had grinned at her. He had then asked her to be pick him up in the universal sign by holding his arms out.

She had and had caressed his hair, letting tears slip from her eyes. The green eyed baby had giggled at that.

She didn’t give a damn that he was a half-blood.

She had nodded politely at Lily and James and had felt relieved when they had smiled at her in return.

 

* * *

 

 

James and Lily loved their son the most in the world. To them, he was their everything. They did their best to raise him.

They played with him, went to the movies with him, got him all kinds of toys and most of all taught him to always respect others. To never hurt anyone meaninglessly. Always stand up to bullies but also know when to retreat when the situation was bad. They were good parents.

Harry was a happy kid, he loved flying with his dad but most of all he loved his game sets, teddy bears and other stuff toys. His parents never charmed them and Harry loved to cuddle with them. He also loved to read fairytales and books, especially stories which had dragons and griffins.

He really loved the chess set his grandpa and grandma had given him when he was two.  He treasured that and the silver blue robes they had gifted him. He had cried for days when he’d learned that they had died. He’d been very young when they had passed away but he knew something very bad had happened when he’d seen his father crying his eyes out.

Harry had cried for hours that day.

His parents did not let him leave their sight for months after that.

When he got a little old, he realized what had happened to them. He didn’t leave his room that day. He had cried for his grandparents the whole day.

He became very close with Sirius and Regulus parents after that.  Orion and Walburga treated Harry like their own grandson and showered him with affection. Harry liked them a lot.

 

* * *

 

Harry’s best friend was Neville Longbottom. He loved playing with Neville and at the age of seven he had become friends with Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy.

He was proud he had stopped their stupid fight.

His mom and dad had taught him fighting was bad and never helped anyone. They had been fighting about something very dumb too. Who was more rich ?

Draco was very rich while Ron was okay. He himself was rich but not like the Malfoys. Malfoys were rich like his godfather and his uncles. Everyone knew uncle Rodolphus was the richest man in Wizarding Britain. Something his other uncle Barty, always made fun off, calling him and Rabastan spoilt rich boys.

He knew Malfoys from before because Draco’s mommy was his godfather’s cousin. The lady adored kids and had ruffled his hair when she had realized he had been the one to stop the fight.

Draco’s father and sneered when he’d heard the argument. His mother had kindly explained to Draco why he was in the wrong.

_“Draco, the Weasleys are not beggars. They may not be as rich as us but they are Purebloods. Show some respect.”_

Draco had understood and he and Ron had apologised to each other much to the amusement of their respective mothers. Molly Weasley had a hard time hiding her smile as she saw the two boys turning red. Children were really strange sometimes.

After that they all played together. Harry, Neville, Ron, Draco, Ernie, Theodore, Susan, Hannah and Luna.  Even though Harry was friendly to everyone he was still only close to Neville. Though he found talking to Luna very soothing.

 

* * *

 

Harry loved everything about Dragons and had been very intrigued when he’d read the recent research article Remus had given him.

There had been a debate for centuries whether the Dragons could understand Parseltongue or not.

Apparently, they could since dragons and snakes were distantly related. They had some common features but according to the study done by Unspeakable Riddle, the noted immortal wizard, they were not very friendly because they did not like the fact that one speaker had stolen one of their kin’s eggs and said wizard had been the first one to use their heartstrings to create wands. He had done some spell on the dragons as a species so they wouldn’t mind if they were murdered for their hearts. Dragons were very hard to tame but if someone approached them with the intent to use their heartstrings, they became vulnerable.

Because of that, a self-defense mechanism had developed in later generations and they were unable to understand Parseltongue.

They didn’t want to be taken advantage of again. Dragons can carry grudges for a long time.

 

_"To this day we don’t know who was it that had thought to use dragon heartstrings as wand cores."_

_“We do not know who that wizard was. But I am ashamed to admit I never thought about this. Mr. Riddle is correct. Dragons do not deserve to die for our wands. Unicorn horns are taken from unicorns who die of natural causes. We should have thought of this before. But well…Mr. Riddle is a great wizard. So, I am not surprised he discovered this and put a stop to it." Garrick Ollivander said with self-deprecating smile. “I am sorry for my part in their hunting.”_

_Garrick Ollivander and Gregorovitch, noted wand makers both use Dragon heartstrings as wand cores.  
_

_As we all know since last two years dragons have not been killed. Unspeakable Riddle had found and has proven that the heartstrings taken from a dragon dead from natural causes worked as well as any other. Since then there has been no poaching of dragons.  
_

_Any person doing such an act will now find himself straight in Azkaban.  
_

_The wizarding world doesn’t have anything left to give Tom Riddle for this remarkable feat except their heartfelt gratitude._

 

_Mr. Riddle was not available for his comment but he had been interviewed before and had said something which should make his stance very clear._

_“Dragons are not our pets. They are ancient creatures of power and should be treated with respect not as materials for the creation of wands.”_

 

Harry didn’t know why but he blushed as he looked at Tom Riddle’s face. He was very beautiful. The immortal wizard was standing with other Unspeakables and only his hood was up since everyone knew him as he taught at Hogwarts.

Remus noticed Harry blushing but couldn’t understand why that was.

Later that day when the five of them were having dinner, Remus casually brought up that Harry had blushed while reading the article. He couldn’t understand why that was since there was nothing in it worth blushing.

But Sirius who had seen the article before just smiled mischievously.

“Someone likes Tom Riddle.” Sirius sing songed and smirked at Harry. Remus handed the article to James who saw the article and burst into laughter. Lily looked over his shoulder and seemed amused too.

“So, Harry you like Professor Riddle?” Lily asked her son with an amused smile.

Harry turned red and ducked his head in embarrassment. Why was everyone teasing him? Mr Riddle was very handsome. He was beautiful. 

Remus shook his head as he finally understood why Harry had turned red. The four adults laughed some more when Harry shyly admitted that he thought Tom Riddle was very handsome. Then he started eating his food.

“Well, the whole wizarding world thinks that Harry. He is very attractive.” James Potter said with a grin on his face.

Harry hummed at his father’s words and didn’t think too much about it. His mom and Sirius’s delicious cooking had taken over his thoughts. Many people were beautiful, Sirius was, his mom was, aunt Lucretia was, his father and Remus too, and of course uncle Regulus, Rodolphus, Rabastan, Luna’s mom...

Harry scrunched his face in disgust. Why was he thinking like that ? He looked at that day’s dessert and his eyes lit up. All thoughts fled his mind after that.

 

* * *

 

“Happy birthday, brat,” Severus said with an amused smile as he handed Harry his birthday gift. His best friend’s son was ten years old now. He deserved a nice gift.

 

He had given the exact same broom to his godson, Draco. Lucius and Narcissa had smirked and even Bellatrix and her husband, Antonin Dolohov had been amused.

Draco had not stopped singing its praises much to the annoyance of Antonin and Bellatrix’s sons. The couple had twins twice. First, they had two boys then four years later, she and Antonin had two girls.  Her sons were already fifteen and such broomsticks fascination had faded. Not to mention they were a little uptight like their parents.

Andromeda had laughed with her husband, Ted Tonks, while Nymphadora had giggled at Draco's affronted expression.

 

Lucretia rolled her eyes at her husband and kissed Harry’s forehead first. "Happy birthday, darling,” she then pinched Harry’s cheeks who giggled at his aunt’s antics.

His eyes lit up in joy as he opened the gift. They’d given him a new broomstick and he was so elated that he ran from the room with it much to the amusement of the elders.

 

James heaved a sigh. He had to up Severus’s gift. Lily knowing where his thoughts were flicked him on the head and went to prepare a feast for Harry’s birthday.

 

Harry got a phoenix quill set from Sirius and Remus who refused to tell where they got it from even to his father. James was not amused that he had not been in on the plan. Lily, Lucretia and Severus cackled as they saw the three Marauders squabbling amongst themselves. Rodolphus was all out laughing with his brother.

Regulus and Rabastan gave him a set of beautiful robes while Rodolphus and Barty had given him some very rare books on dragons and basilisks.

Neville, Ron, Draco and Luna had sent him birthday cakes from their families and lots of candies.

Luna had also sent him a silver diamond charm which provided protection from most curses.  Harry’s parents smiled as they saw that. Luna’s mother was a very gifted witch. No wonder the charm wasn’t available in market for now. It was the first one she had made. They all knew Luna thought of Harry as her big brother.  The kid was a little odd but Harry had never made fun of her. That’s exactly what they expected from their son.  He had snapped at Draco and Ron when they’d called her loony.  Luna was someone Harry treasured a lot.

Orion and Walburga had sent Harry a beautiful silver bracelet.

Harry wrote back letters to all of them and thanked them in person too when they all came to his birthday party.

 

His parents had given him a photo album of his grandparents and a small vial of Felix Felicis. It was for one time use only.

Harry hugged his father and mother when he opened the album. His maternal grandparents had died before he was born but he knew they had loved his mother very much. He was happy to have so many pictures of them.  His paternal grandparents were very dear to him and he was happy he now had even more memories of them.

 

Harry shared the Felix Felicis with Neville, Ron, Draco, Luna and Theo. They’d had a grand time that day.  All of them should have fallen from their broomsticks and broken a lot of bones but hadn’t.

James and Lily had not been amused by that.

 

Harry and the others had their broomsticks confiscated for next six months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy !


	17. Chapter 17

 

Harry knew now that he was eleven, he will go to Hogwarts. He received his letter and smiled widely as he read it. His parents who were reading it over his shoulder ruffled his hair and prepared a feast for him.

 

They got him a beautiful snowy owl first when the three of them went to Diagon Alley to buy his school materials. He immediately fell in love with her. Hedwig was adorable. She was beautiful and became very dear to him very soon. The owl liked him too and nipped his ears affectionately whenever he filled her bowl with treats and water. That made him very happy.

 

When he had got his wand, Mr. Ollivander's eyes had widened and he had started stuttering, he was very surprised by that. When he’d asked the man why he was reacting like that, he hadn’t answered. All he’d said was that it was very curious. Harry had asked again, but Ollivander had just smiled kindly at him.

 

_“I never thought that wand’s brother will choose anyone. I look forward to what will happen in future. Good day Mr Potter.”_

 

Harry liked his wand, eleven inches, holly and phoenix feather. It was very warm and he felt connected to it. He didn’t think much about what the wand maker had said. He didn't know what Mr. Ollivander was trying to say. He was just happy a wand had chosen him. He had tried a lot of wands much to the amusement of his father and mother.

 

* * *

 

That weekend Harry's parents and their friends were having a discussion about which house Harry will end up in.

“He’ll be a Gryffindor for sure like Lily and Potter here,” Snape said snidely.

James rolled his eyes when he heard that. “Don’t be so sure of that, Snape. He can be a Slytherin too because he only has to blink at me and Lily, and we’ll do anything he wants.”

At that Harry huffed. “No, I don’t. I don’t do that intentionally.”  Remus and Sirius smirked as they heard Harry.

“Sometimes you do, Harry,” Sirius winked at his godson who blushed and pouted much to the amusement of everyone.

“Well, he can be a Ravenclaw. He likes reading though only about magical creatures. Or he will be a Hufflepuff. He is way too sweet,” Lucretia pinched his cheeks and Harry huffed again. Aunt Lucretia loved embarrassing him.

Lily ruffled Harry's hair and dropped a kiss on his head, “well, he can be in any house. We’ll love him all the same. Our Harry will always be our Harry.” 

Remus smiled gently at that and hugged Harry who hugged him back.  He got another hug from Snape and Lucretia who also kissed his cheek.  Sirius kissed his forehead and ruffled his hair. In the end, his parents kissed his cheeks and he giggled and ran back to his room.

 

The elders looked at Harry's retreating back with amusement and wished him all the luck in the world.

 

* * *

 

Harry was sorted in Gryffindor after half an hour, much to the amusement of the headmaster and staff. Half the hall thought him weird because of that.

The hat had been very confused about which house he should go in. It couldn’t decide between Slytherin and Gryffindor, but had settled for Gryffindor in the end. Harry had just hummed all the while because he didn’t care which house he went in. He liked all the houses.

He and Neville hugged each other after he had settled at the Gryffindor table. He was so happy they were in the same house.

Next day, Hedwig brought him many treats from his family. He loved her so much, she was the best. He patted her head and gave her some treats from his plate. She nuzzled his cheek affectionately and flew back to the owlery.

 

* * *

 

Harry liked his lessons and Hogwarts was as great as his family had said it would be. His teachers were very good and he was impressed with all of them.

Minerva McGonagall was a stern witch who was very thorough about her work, even if she was head of his house. She didn’t give them special preference or let them off if they were late in submitting their homework.

Professor Sprout was pretty nice and he was fascinated with so many magical plants and their properties, he’d never given them much attention before. But now, he wanted to know more about them. Professor Flitwick was very good and it was kind of funny to see him standing on the desk and teaching.

Though it wasn’t funny when Seamus set his feather on fire and he and his partner, (him) were covered in ashes.

Professor Snape didn’t give any student special attention, he and Draco were treated just like everyone else. Though, he was very sarcastic when he was teaching. He also sneered a lot. He sometimes got a feeling that his uncle was mocking all the students.

 

* * *

 

Harry and Ron became friends with Hermione after she helped him, Neville and Ron once on an essay. Hermione Granger was very intelligent but sometimes she could get over excited.

She had fallen from her seat in Potions in her haste to answer a question. She had hurt her head.

Uncle Severus had snidely commented then that being a know it all will not help her in the long run. She had turned red in embarrassment, but later Ron had said the same  and though Harry didn’t want any fights he had politely suggested she be a little cool about it.

He also thought his Defense against the Darks arts teacher, Professor Quirrell was hilarious. He stuttered sometimes, but otherwise he was fine.

Professor Sinistra was nice and he was happy to learn so much about stars. He had never given much thought to them before; like magical plants, but, now, he found studying about them very interesting.

Harry had become good friends with Hagrid too, Care of magical creatures teacher and Groundskeeper of Hogwarts. The half giant was very funny and he could see that he liked animals a lot.

Though he still thought flobberworms were one of the most boring creatures in existence. Hagrid, Ron, Neville and Hermione had laughed very hard at that.

 

* * *

 

Harry had been hesitant to introduce Hermione to Malfoy, he didn’t want him to hurt her by saying something callous. Sometimes Draco could be mean but Draco surprised him by shaking Hermione’s hands and just snottily said he’ll beat her.  He was happy that there had been no name calling.

He also liked his flying lessons a lot and was surprised to find that Professor Hooch’s eyes were really like a hawk. She was always able to spot when one of them was doing something wrong.

History of magic as a subject was very good, but Professor Binns made him sleep. The ghost taught in such a monotonous way that by the second week, Harry didn’t feel guilty for sleeping in the class.

He had seen even Hermione dozing a few times. Ron usually took naps in his class while Draco played with Theodore and Blaise. He and Neville read the chapter sometimes when they weren’t sleeping. That taught them more than Binns.

 

When he told his family about it, he wasn't surprised to see all four of them laughing. He could see their amused expressions as he explained why he felt sleepy.

“Well, you are actually attending, Harry,” his father and godfather said with a smirk.  “We usually skipped his lesson with some excuse,” Remus added as his mother laughed.

The two way mirror was very useful. He could always stay in contact with his family because of it.

 

* * *

 

Harry liked his classes, but the class he was really looking forward to was Professor Riddle’s. He knew Tom Marvolo Riddle only taught for two months. He had seen the professor at sorting and he had turned red and had immediately gulped down his juice. The beautiful man had just smiled kindly at him when their eyes had met and had turned back to his conversation with Sprout and Quirrell.

Oliver Wood had to thump his back after that. Ron’s elder brothers, Fred and George didn’t stop laughing for a while.

He was surprised when he was recruited for the Quidditch team. Apparently, McGonagall was tired of Uncle Snape’s smug attitude. Slytherin had been winning the quidditch cup for a while now and she wanted them to win. She had seen him flying in his classes and now he was the seeker.

He had also set a record for being the youngest seeker.

He was happy to be chosen. He resolved to do his best.

 

* * *

 

The first thing Harry learned about Unspeakable Riddle was that he did not tolerate bullying of any sort. He knew about it a little and Oliver wood had told him how the professor had helped his great uncle once. But seeing it with his own eyes was something else.

 

_Some older students from Slytherin house were laughing at a Hufflepuff  first year, who was about to enter the classroom. Before anyone could intervene, Professor Riddle  docked fifty points from Slytherin house. The two bullies, fifth year Mulciber and Macnair turned pale as they saw Tom Riddle and ran away from there._

_Justin Finch Fletchley thanked his professor profusely. Tom Riddle looked at him for a minute then nodded. Before entering the classroom he told him to stand up for himself because he won’t be around every time._

_“They’ll never stop, Mr. Fletchley if you don’t say anything. If they still don’t listen, report to your head of house. Professor Sprout will handle them then.”_

_Justin nodded with a wide smile and the class started._

 

Harry loved the lessons. It was as simple as that. Tom Riddle was a brilliant teacher and Harry could see why the man was called a genius. He explained everything very clearly and encouraged them to practice a lot. Theory will not get them far in this subject if they couldn’t perform the spells.

He got ten points for performing a spell correctly after a week ( he was the only one to get any points). He had been very happy that day.

 

* * *

 

Tom was relieved to find that Harry had grown up well. He had healed the child and had saved him from certain death. Of course, he would have some affection for the kid. Harry looked a lot like his father, same messy black hair which stuck in every direction. His eyes, though, were like his mother’s.

He was a good kid. Harry was good in studies and was friends with many kids from different houses. Though, he had been very amused when he had seen Abraxas’s grandson, Draco, one of Harry's friend's sitting patiently with muggleborns. He had seen him talking politely to Penelope Clearwater, Gryffindor fifth year.

He knew Lucius was taught by Abraxas to be tolerable. He must’ve taught his son to be the same. Though, the boy still sneered and thought he was better than everyone. Draco Malfoy was hilarious.

Harry was good at flying too, he'd seen one of his quidditch matches's. He knew the kid will go far in his life. It was nice to see him happy and healthy.

In his two months, he usually found Harry and one of his friends in some places where they shouldn’t be. Harry always gave a sheepish smile to him much to his amusement. He was pretty sure his father and godfathers had given him the Marauders map and that Invisibiity cloak.

But what made him really happy was to see Harry perform well in his class.

 

* * *

 

Harry returned to his home for Christmas holidays and had a good time with his family.

 

Around May, Harry admitted to himself that he missed Professor Riddle. He really missed his lessons and the amused smiles the beautiful man had on his face when he or some other student did something stupid.

_Well, I’ll see him next year._

 

* * *

 

Harry grinned at Oliver and Neville, who were ruffling his hair and thumping him on the back. He was very happy that Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup because of him. (Ravenclaw had won the house cup). His friends, Draco and Theodore were in a bind though. They were happy for him, their friend, but sad for their house's loss.

Professor McGonagall's elation was visible to everyone and so was Snape’s disgruntled and amused expression. Apparently, his uncle was in a bind too. He didn't know whether he should be happy or upset.

Hermione was top of the year much to the frustration of Draco. Harry had done well too, he was seventh in the year. But in Defense against the dark arts, Harry was first. He had received the highest marks in their year. For some reason, that made him very happy.

His parents were very proud of him. His father had never been top of the class. His mother had always got good marks in Charms and Potions though.

 

* * *

 

In the two month holidays, Harry went with his parents to Germany. The three of them had a very good time there. Harry couldn’t shut up about it even after he returned much to the amusement of his godfathers and their friends.

“No, you don’t understand, Sirius,” Harry said excitedly. “It’ just so beautiful.”

Sirius nodded at Harry and ruffled his hair. “Well, I can see that from the photographs. I am glad you had a good time.  Remus and I will go there sometime too. And, next summer, we should all go to Poland together.”

Harry nodded excitedly and Sirius hugged his godson. Harry was adorable and he loved him very much.

 

* * *

 

Harry didn’t know why they had to read so many Gilderoy Lockhart’s books that year. He didn't think much of him. His mother thought he was handsome, much to the annoyance of his father. Harry agreed with his father. The man seemed fishy to him.

Harry had never pegged Quirrell as a Lockhart fanboy. He couldn’t understand why he would want to include all these books in that year’s curriculum.

 

Harry was laughing at the back of the shop, seeing so many witches trying to get the pompous man’s autographs. Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom (uncle frank and Aunt Alice to him) and his parents had left him and Neville together to get their spell books. Neville didn’t really get what was so great about Lockhart either.

“He seems, I dunno. Weird, I guess.” Neville looked uncomfortable with so many witches pushing each other to get the man’s signature.

Harry smiled at that and picked up a random book to read. He agreed with Neville wholeheartedly.

 

* * *

 

Harry thought the books were obnoxious. Hermione loved Lockhart and his books though, much to the disgust of Ron and Draco. Harry thought maybe it was just something  witches thought.

Sirius and Remus found the books hilarious, while Severus and Lucretia found them distasteful. His father plain hated them, he was sure his dad hadn't even read them. Thank God his mother and Aunt Alice hadn’t been one of the witches who had gotten Lockhart's autographs. Ron had told them that his mother had gotten one, much to his and the twins disgust.

 

* * *

 

Harry, Ron, Neville, Hermione, Draco, Luna and Theodore were having another get together near the Black Lake. The weather was nice and they wanted to feel the breeze on their faces. Today, their topic was Hogwarts mysteries.

“Well, I believe Chamber of Secrets is real,” Draco said irritably. Theo chuckled as he heard his friend's obnoxious tone.

Ron and Neville shook their heads. “But, no one has ever found it. Even though the school was searched so many times.” Neville said quietly.

Harry didn’t know what to think about it. It sounded really sad that a wizard would want to hurt muggleborns. “Well, I just hope no one gets hurt. And maybe the Heir of Slytherin doesn’t want to hurt anyone.”

Draco nodded slowly at that. Even he didn’t want anyone to get hurt.

Luna just hummed when asked. “It must exist. Who has proven it doesn’t?” She looked at a bird flying overhead and smiled happily.

No one had any retort to that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter. Enjoy !


	18. Chapter 18

 

Tom glared at the books in front of him. He and the other professors had expressed their disgust for the books when they’d seen them on the book list. He, Snape and McGonagall had been the ones who had been fervently against them. But Dumbledore, for some odd reason, found them hilarious. According to him, children should have some fun too. If nothing else, they were good adventure stories. Even though he knew they were all a lie. Dumbledore didn’t think Lockhart could do all the stuff in books.

 

_“He’s a fraud,” Tom said with a grimace._

_Snape sneered as he picked up Wandering with Werewolves, “I couldn’t agree more.”_

_“Albus, why would you torture children with this?” Minerva asked the headmaster, looking at the books with hate in her eyes._

 

_Dumbledore just laughed and offered them all a sherbet lemon. The three of them refused, but Quirrell and Sprout took one. Trelawney had not been invited to the meeting since she was drowned in one of her Sherries and Hagrid had been vehemently against Lockhart since the beginning. And, a dragon had just hatched and Hagrid wanted to stay with him before he was sent to Romania to live in the colony._

_Binns didn’t really care whether Lockhart taught or not. He was dead. Why should he give a shit about some moron trying to prove he was the best?_

_Sinistra found the whole thing to be a big joke. She and Albus had a good laugh at the books when Albus had put them on the list._

 

_“Well, my dear teachers. No need to worry. Professor Quirrell will make sure the children will pass, while Professor Riddle will teach them what they need to about the subject." Dumbledore smiled as he continued "With Unspeakable Riddle here, there education will not take a back seat. Let the children have some fun.”_

_Tom smirked as the others nodded tiredly. He most certainly will not be opening the bloody books._

 

_They were an embarrassment. He was sure Lockhart had taken credit for what other wizards had done. He had taught the man and he was ready to bet his savings that he was a fraud and a liar._

 

* * *

 

Neville wanted to tell Hermione to not say anything, but Hermione didn’t listen. She raised her hand and said clearly that what Professor Riddle was teaching wasn’t part of curriculum or their books.

 

Ron and Draco were shaking their heads at her to not speak, but she did, and well, Harry really wasn’t surprised by what happened next.

 

Tom Riddle took his teaching very seriously and he gave the word condescending a whole new meaning.

Tom smirked at the student who was always over enthusiastic.

 

“Miss Granger, believe me you don’t need to study Gilderoy’s Lockhart’s books to pass your exam. What I am teaching you will be enough. I should know. After all, I am the only wizard who knows about every dark art out there and as a result I know all the defensive spells against them as well.”

 

Eerie silence followed that statement and all students recalled sometimes Professor Riddle’s normally burgundy eyes turned blood red when he was very amused or agitated. No one spoke about the bloody books again.

 

Harry smiled a little as he noticed the professor’s amused expression. Sometimes he thought Tom Riddle liked tormenting his students.

 

* * *

 

Hermione was very put out and embarrassed by what had happened. Harry and Neville tried to cheer her up, but it didn’t work. In the end, Ron thumped her on the back and gave her a big smile.

“Come on, Hermione. Rules are meant to be broken. We all have to read the books otherwise we’ll fail. They are entertaining, I'll give you that." Ron shared a glance with Draco and both the boys grinned mischievously. "But, let’s be honest, they aren’t good DADA material. Professor Riddle is right. The guy is practically worshipped by the Wizarding world. I am willing to believe him over Locky.  Live a little.”

Hermione sighed then smiled and hugged Ron, Harry and Neville. But, she berated Ron as she realized he had called Lockhart, Locky. That was very rude of Ron. Lockhart hadn’t harmed Ron.

Draco spread the name to his housemates. It was too good not to spread.

 

* * *

 

The school gave Quinus Quirrell a big farewell, as the wizard was getting married and he’d had quite enough of Dark arts. Tom smirked at Quirrell, but wished the man well in life. The stuttering man thanked him profusely for his intellect and help.

“It- it- it was an an honor to to be taught by you and-and with you, Mr. Riddle,” Quirrell said sincerely.

Tom smiled at the wizard and shook his hand. “I wish you well in life, Mr. Quirrell.”

 

Dumbledore and Minerva hugged him, while Severus gave him a sarcastic smile and wished him well too. Hagrid thumped him on the back while Sprout promised to be in touch with him. She and Quirrell had always gotten along.

Much to everyone’s surprise, Professor Trelawney told him he would be very happy with his girlfriend, Frances.

 

* * *

 

Harry wondered who would be their next defense teacher as he celebrated with Oliver Wood another Quidditch cup. Oliver and the Weasley twins adored him for getting them the cup twice in a row.

House cup had gone to Slytherin, though. Harry and Draco had hugged each other as in a sense they had both won.

 

* * *

 

_["Gilderoy Lockhart was found doing memory charms on a wizard, whose name we will not be disclosing. He was arrested and tried the day before; the trial's results were shocking to say the least. It was found he had been doing this for a while."_

_"None of his great adventures were his. He had taken credit for what other wizards had done. He was charged and fined twenty thousand galleons, and was sentenced to two years in Azkaban."_

_“St Mungos mind healers will have their hands full healing all the victims of Gilderoy Lockhart’s memory charms. This reporter thinks Gilderoy should at least spend five years in Azkaban for his crimes. The man has ruined many people’s lives.” ]  
_

 

Hermione was disgusted when she heard about it, much to the amusement of Draco and Ron. She had written them both long letters expressing her anger at the man.

 

Hogwarts staff had a party that day. Dumbledore didn’t know whether he should feel angry or amused. He knew Lockhart was a fool, he didn’t know he was a fraud and a criminal too.

 

Tom Riddle just shook his head as he read the article. The man was despicable. He wasn’t wrong about him after all.

 

Harry smiled in amusement as he saw his father teasing his mother. Again. They'd been like that since the papers had came. His father left no opportunity to rile his mother.

After two weeks, his mother got fed up and flooed to aunt Lucretia's place and stayed there.

 

* * *

 

Harry had given it a lot of thought and had ultimately decided to take two extra subjects for his third year. Care of magical creatures was definite yes; Divination seemed interesting, but he didn’t want to study it and he had seen professor Trelawney drowned in sherry. Yeah, that was a no, alright. He’ll do some reading on his own. Now, he really liked the sound of alchemy, so that’s what he took as a second subject.

 

He wanted Ancient Runes, but he had studied it as a child and he didn’t want to pile up his course work. So, he only took two subjects.

 

In the holidays, Harry received a letter from Hermione. She said that she had ticked off all extra subjects and McGonagall had not been amused by that. She had written her a stern letter and told her to take her future seriously. The only way she might take all subjects was by using a time turner and that in turn will take a toll on her health. Not to mention time turners were banned.

 

Their head of house had suggested that she read on her own, if she really wanted to study that much. Harry agreed with his teacher. He didn’t want his friend to exhaust herself. She was very intelligent and Harry was sure she will go far in life.

 

* * *

 

Harry could tell there was something going on between his parents and his godfathers, but he didn’t know what. In fact their family friends were in on the secret too, but to his dismay all Rodolphus, Regulus and Rabastan  had done, was wink at him. Snape, had as usual, given him one of his sneers, while Lucretia had just sing songed that it was a surprise.

 

At the start of term feast, Harry couldn’t contain his happiness as he saw Remus sitting on teacher’s table and winking at him.

“I can’t believe this,” Harry said excitedly. He had no idea that Remus had left his job.

Remus Lupin worked as a ward maker for the ministry, while Sirius was an Auror. Regulus worked at Gringotts with his boyfriend, Rabastan while, Rodolphus was head of many businesses of his family, one of them was Quidditch supplies store. Barty worked with his father at the ministry.

 

As the feast ended, Harry ran to him and hugged him. Remus smiled gently at his godson as he returned the hug.  “I take it you are happy, Harry,” Remus asked the green eyed youth. Harry has grown a lot.

Harry nodded and Remus ruffled his hair and told him to come to his office anytime.

That day his parents and Sirius asked him how he liked the surprise. His radiant smile was answer enough for the three.

 

* * *

 

“Bloody hell, Harry. Professor Lupin is good,” Ron said excitedly.

 

“Absolutely, Harry. Professor Lupin is just brilliant.” Hermione said with stars shining in her eyes.

 

Harry smiled smugly as Neville and Draco shook their heads.

 

Harry blushed a little as Cedric and he shook hands. Harry had missed the snitch, since he had been surprised to see professor Riddle in the stands. Everyone knew professor Riddle could fly very well with or without the broomstick. Orion, Ellair, Abraxas and Godfrey had told them that at one of the gatherings since they’d seen him fly in their school days.  And, everyone knew that Tom Riddle had developed a spell which could make a wizard stay in air without a broomstick. But, unfortunately it was too difficult to master.

 

“That was a brilliant game, Harry. Let’s play again soon,” Cedric said jovially and Harry nodded back enthusiastically. He liked Cedric. He was a great seeker and very nice fellow altogether.

 

* * *

 

Harry had been looking forward to his first Hogsmeade trip for a while. He had visited the village before, but going from the school with his friends was a whole different experience. He had always liked Hogsmeade, but with everyone there, it was even more fun.  

 

Harry, Draco, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Fred and George went together to Zonko’s first. 

The twins left them after a while, and soon they were joined by Theodore, Hannah, Ernie and Susan. They all settled on a big table in Three Broomsticks, and ordered butterbeers from Madam Rosmerta.

After drinking the delicious drink and eating some rolls, they all paid a visit to Shrieking Shack. Harry had a hard time controlling himself as he saw the house, but he had promised his family he would never tell anyone what the real reason behind the noises which had come from there was.

 

His father, Remus and Sirius were animagus. Remus had been bitten by a werewolf when he was a kid; the werewolf who had bitten him was in Azkaban now, but Remus was not the same since then. He wasn't a true werewolf since he was bitten on a normal day, but that didn't mean he had no side effects. He had some wolf characteristics since then.  He ate rare food items sometimes, and was fascinated with blood on television.

The legends said it was a mortal who had offended the Moon God / Goddess in ancient times. They in turn, had cursed the man to turn into a wolf beast every full moon.

 

Werewolves could infect others by biting them, and could also reproduce with humans. But, rarely did the werewolf gene pass onto the progeny. That could only happen if they were bitten.  Werewolves mating among themselves only produced wolf animagus children.  They weren’t true werewolves.

 

Harry had asked his mother why they had done it, and she had explained to him that his father, Sirius and Remus had turned into animagi to better acquaint Remus  with his animal self. They thought it would help him a lot. 

His father was a stag, Sirius was a large black dog, the Grim and Remus was a grey wolf.

 

The sounds that came from the Shack were of these three wreaking havoc.  Before they had made it their secret lair, it had just been an empty cottage.

Harry was surprised that even his mother had found out the truth after the four of them had left Hogwarts. It was a secret that only four of them knew. His father and godfathers  had never registered themselves.

 

After a while standing in the snow, all of them started feeling cold, and went back to the school.

 

* * *

 

Harry realized he knew a lot about werewolves when Professor Riddle was teaching them. He had seen the man give him a curious look when he had answered two question eerily accurately, but in the end the man had just smiled and awarded him twenty five points.

 

Hermione, Neville, Draco and Ron had grilled him to help them with the essay. No one received full marks from professor Riddle in homework. No one.

 

The only exceptions had been Alastor Moody's, nephew and niece, and Rufus Scrimgeour’s nephew, Andrew Scrimgeour. They'd been the only ones who had received an E from him in their fifth and seventh year.

 

No one else had gotten an E from Tom Riddle, much to the amusement of Dumbledore and other teachers. Lancelot had always laughed when his students had complained about Riddle's strict marking. Lancelot himself was not generous with grades, but he and others had nothing on Riddle.

 

_“You are a little hard on them, don’t you think so, Tom,” Dumbledore asked his student who was sitting beside Lancelot._

_Tom shrugged, but answered nonetheless._

_“I don’t think so, sir. I actually have to stop myself, quite a few times, from gouging my eyes out when I correct their homework. The nonsense and utter garbage some students can come up with astonishes me.”_

_For a while, Dumbledore and other teachers didn’t say anything. They really had no retort to that.  
_

_Tom was right. Sometimes students wrote on and on about topics which have nothing, whatsoever, to do with the essay in question. It was…annoying._

 

* * *

 

Harry didn’t know what the boggart will turn into, and frankly he was not happy that everyone would know his fear. But, when he read the letter that appeared in front of him, he couldn’t stop the tears falling from his eyes.

It said his parents and godfathers were dead.

 

Professor Riddle dismissed the class and took Harry with him to his office.

 

* * *

 

Harry didn’t stop crying. He couldn’t stop the tears from falling from his eyes. Every time he thought about those words, more tears slipped from his eyes.

He didn’t know how long he cried for.

Tom sat with his chin resting in his hand, looking at the boy solemnly.  He couldn’t help Harry till the teen stopped crying. It was better to let it all out than to keep it in. He wouldn’t know though. He had never cried. He had come very close on two occasions, but the tears had never fallen from his eyes.

 

“Better?” Tom asked quietly as Harry hiccuped and drank the glass of water which he had given him.

After a while, Harry gave Tom a watery smile.  “You must think I am a fool, professor, for breaking down like that…” Harry said tiredly.

 

He didn’t how he could turn that letter into anything remotely amusing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics : Flashback
> 
> [Italics] -Daily Prophet articles
> 
> Sorry for the delay.
> 
> And, thanks for reading !


	19. Chapter 19

 

For some time Tom Riddle didn’t say anything,  but when he did speak,  Harry listened carefully.

 

“You are not a fool, Harry. Being afraid for your family…is not a weakness.” He said kindly to the boy in front of him who was still had remnants of tears on his cheeks.  He remembered his own father and smiled sadly.

 

Harry didn’t say anything in response to his professor, he just closed his eyes and tried to erase that awful letter from his mind.

“Harry.”

 

Harry heard his name being called and was shaken out of his memories. He slowly opened his eyes and  he looked  in the burgundy eyes of Unspeakable Riddle. They were really beautiful and his eyelashes were pretty long, Harry noted idly.

 

“The boggart turns into whatever scares us the most.” Harry’s shoulders slumped but Tom and continued to talk. "You have to think hard to overcome it. It can take time but you will do it. I believe that.”  Tom gave Harry a gentle smile as he finished.

 

Harry felt a little better and hesitantly raised his head and smiled back at his professor. He knew what his professor was saying was true. He’ll try his best to overcome his fears.

Tom’s smile widened as he took in Harry's hopeful expression. He conjured a vial of Calming Draught from his cabinet and gently placed it in front of Harry.

 

“Drink, it’ll help you.” Tom gestured at the vial and Harry looked at it for second before picking it up and drinking it one go. This might be the potion best ever, Harry thought as it went down his throat. It was practically tasteless. He felt his muscles slacken and a wave of calm washed over him. He felt relaxed, satisfied; content now.

Magic really was great, no wonder he was feeling better seconds after drinking the potion.

 

Harry slowly got up and thanked his professor for everything. Tom nodded at him and walked him to the door.

 

When Tom opened the door he was surprised to see Neville Longbottom, Ron Weasley, Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger sitting outside. Harry, who was stunned to see them there froze where he stood. Tom noticed Harry’s shocked expression and grinned to himself. He leaned down and whispered in Harry’s ears as he looked at the young man’s friends.

 

“You have friends, Harry, who care about you very much. Take care.” Tom straightened and turned to go back inside his office. He was about to close the door behind him when Harry’s voice stopped. He turned to look back at him and was surprised to see tears in Harry’s eyes.

 

“Thank you professor. For everything.”

 

Harry wiped his cheeks and smiled brightly at Tom Riddle before joining his friends. Tom smiled to himself and closed the door. He sent his patronus to the rest of the teachers to inform them Harry was excused for the day.

 

* * *

 

Neville, Ron, Hermione and Draco hugged Harry as soon as they realized he was back. They didn’t know what Harry had seen but they knew it must have been something very bad to reduce their friend to tears. Harry was usually very gentle and kind but there was strength in him that wasn’t visible. To reduce him to tears…something very bad must’ve happened.

 

The five skipped lunch that day and talked quietly in one of the empty classrooms. Harry told them what he’d read on the parchment and the four didn’t know what to say to reassure their friend. But all of them resolved in their hearts to help Harry in any way he wanted.

 

Harry gave them a brilliant smile and hugged them when they said that they will help him in any way they can. He was glad they were beside him.

 

Ron and Draco snuck into the kitchens before the next class and got a basket full of sandwiches and rolls, they'd all missed lunch and they knew eating will make all of them feel better. The five ate them together in an empty classroom before going down to the dungeons.

 

* * *

 

When the five entered the potions classroom, they were surprised when Snape stopped Harry on the door itself. He told Harry to use his office floo and contact his parents.

 

“Go on, Potter. You are excused for the day." Harry looked at uncle Severus curiously who just shook his head and grinned wryly. "Talk to your dad and mom. I am sure Black and Lupin will be there too. It’ll be alright. Don’t be afraid.”

 

Harry's eyes widened in shock but he thanked Severus nonetheless. The thirteen year old squawked when Snape ruffled his hair. He was getting too old for this.

 

* * *

 

When Harry unexpectedly came out of the fireplace, James and Remus rushed to him as they had been in the sitting room going through some files. Lily was still at her apothecary and Sirius was at work as well.

 

After James and Remus had heard everything from Harry, James did not let go of his son for a while. “We’ll always be with you, Harry. We’ll never leave you,” James said as he kissed Harry’s forehead who leaned in to his chest. James smiled softly and tried to straighten his son’s hair.

 

Remus patted Harry's head and smiled as Harry hugged him tightly after he’d let his father shower him with affection.

“It’s alright, Harry. It’s alright. We are fine.”

 

After an hour, Harry went back to Hogwarts. He was surprised to find that he felt-okay.  

He was grateful to Tom Riddle and his friends. He had felt better after talking to Tom Riddle and his friends. And, now that he had seen his father and honorary godfather, he was alright.

 

* * *

 

Next day, Harry received letters from his mother and Sirius, saying they’ll meet him on his next Hogsmeade trip. Harry smiled as he saw the big box that had come with the mail. It seemed his father had made some cookies and chocolate truffles for him with Remus’s help. His father was not a good cook like his mom and godfathers but he could see how worried he was for him, and that’s why he had sent the baked goods and chocolat.

 

Harry opened the box and popped one cookie in his mouth. His eyes widened in delight as the baked good melted in his mouth. It was delicious. He knew his father had made it because he knew his mom’s, Sirius and Remus’s style, and these cookies weren't from one of the shops. He ate a truffle next and started laughing. It was absolutely delicious as well.

His father must’ve been way too worried. 

 

He ate two more truffles and one cookie and decided to share the rest with his friends.

 

* * *

 

Ron and Neville loved the chocolate treats while Hermione was very impressed with his father’s cooking skills. Draco demanded the recipe so that his mom and grandpa could prepare some for him too. His father and grandmother were horrible at cooking.

Harry had thought of giving some to Professor Riddle before he had shared the sweets with his friends, but then had he had blushed and put the thought away. Why was he being so presumptuous? 

 

Harry shook his head again as thoughts of Professor Riddle came in his mind again. He stuffed his mouth with a chocolate cookie to forget the whole thing.

 

It shouldn’t have been shocking, given how delicious and mouth watering the treats were, but Harry made a mental note to tell his father that everyone had enjoyed his treats a lot. Both the boxes had been emptied within half an hour. Ron, Hermione, Neville, Theo and Draco smiled sheepishly at each other while Harry sniggered as he imagined his father’s reaction. Luna just smiled serenely while taking a bite of her truffle.

 

“Professor Lupin always did say chocolates make one feel better, it  really is true.” The blonde girl patted Harry’s shoulder who gave her a brilliant smile. "Of course it is.

 

* * *

 

Harry resolved to overcome his fear no matter what. He will practice hard and defeat the stupid boggart.

 

Harry asked Professor Riddle permission to practice on it and the immortal wizard only smiled gently in return. He allowed him to practice on the boggart after dinner every other day of the week.

 

After four weeks, Harry finally succeeded. He managed to turn the ominous letter into something funny.

He made the letter turn into a flobberworm.

 

Tom congratulated Harry and thumped him lightly on his shoulder. Harry looked up at the tall wizard and felt himself blush as Tom Riddle smiled back.

_Merlin’s beard. He really was very beautiful. The forever twenty eight year old’s beauty was unearthly._ Harry averted his eyes and thanked his professor, head ducked in embarrassment. He’d never been this close to Tom Riddle before.

 

* * *

 

After the holidays, Remus came back to Hogwarts and he asked Harry to face the boggart once again. Harry did it with confidence as he  remembered everything professor Riddle had taught him.

 

Harry felt very proud when Remus ruffled his hair. “Well done, Harry. Great job.” Harry smiled softly and thanked Tom Riddle again.

 

Harry rode his firebolt which Sirius had given him as his birthday gift and again brought Gryffindor to victory in the Quidditch final. He was pretty happy since this was his last year too. He liked Quidditch, but what he loved was _flying,_ being in the air _._ He had already resigned from the seeker position. He didn’t feel like playing anymore.

 

Harry hugged Oliver as the seventh year didn’t stop crying. It was his last year at Hogwarts and Harry could understand why he was so happy. The team under his captaincy had won the Quidditch cup three times in a row. Harry was happy for Oliver and hoped he would get selected and be part of Puddlemere United.

 

Harry felt warm and happy as he looked at his results. He’d again got top marks in DADA.

 

Hermione hugged him when the six discussed their exam results. “You did brilliantly, Harry. You deserve the spot.” Harry smiled softly at his friend and congratulated her for her top position in the year again. Harry then turned to Theo and smiled sheepishly.  He and Theodore had tied for first position in alchemy.

 

“Come on, Potter give me a hug too,” Theo said with a smirk. “We’ll both be taking the first spot in alchemy for next two years as well.”

Harry just shook his head before giving Theo a beaming smile and hugging him. “Done.” Harry whispered in his friend's ear and Theo started laughing again.  

 

Harry  felt good as he boarded the train to go back home.

 

* * *

 

That year, Harry knew he and his family  wouldn’t be going anywhere for the holidays since Quidditch World Cup was happening. He and his friends had made plans to see it together. Their parents had talked and he, Neville, Draco, Ron, Hermione, Theo and Luna will be sitting together.

Harry knew Hermione didn’t really get along with Luna. He had berated her for calling her loony in the beginning of their acquaintance, but they were both civil to each other now. Harry knew Hermione didn’t understand Luna’s imagination but that didn’t mean they couldn’t be polite to each other.

 

Luna, on the other hand didn’t care. She was nice to everyone.

 

But Harry knew even if they weren’t good friends, they cared for each other a lot.

He, Theo and Neville had verbally humiliated the Ravenclaw boy and Slytherin girl who had hidden Luna’s shoes and books. Ron, Hermione and Draco had hexed the two boys, one from Hufflepuff and other from Gryffindor who were bullying Luna. Zacharias Smith and Cormac Mclaggen were a real pain in the ass.

 

* * *

 

Harry couldn’t contain his joy when Lucretia and Severus announced they were going to have a kid in nine months. Harry hugged Lucretia carefully while she kissed his forehead and caressed his hair.

 

“Thank you, Harry,” Lucretia said softly and pinched Harry's cheeks. "You are such a darling."

 

Harry hesitantly looked at Snape, not sure whether to hug him or not. Severus wasn’t a person who hugged people, something that amused Aunt Narcissa, Draco’s mom and Draco a lot. Draco used to drone on and on about how when he was a kid his godfather had hexed him, much to his father’s amusement. Draco had loved to hug everyone when he was a kid.

 

That’s why Harry was surprised when he was pulled in for a hug by Snape himself who rolled his eyes and thanked him.

 

Harry smiled as he saw his father thump uncle Severus on the shoulder good naturedly. Sirius and Remus did the same. Sirius turned to his aunt and smiled mischievously. Lucretia just rolled her eyes at her nephew, well aware he was thinking something funny about her and Snape. She smiled smugly before going and hugging Remus first.

 

Lily hugged her friend and kissed Lucretia’s cheek.  “I am so happy for both of you,” she said with a brilliant smile. Severus nodded at his childhood friend while Lucretia gave her a beaming smile.

 

James, Lily, Sirius, Remus and Harry then went with Lucretia and Snape to Grimmauld Place via portkey for the big feast.

 

* * *

 

Even though it was past midnight by the time everyone was done eating, Severus friends dragged him for drinks that very night. Only Harry, Lily, Lucretia, Orion and Walburga were left behind.

“They can be a bit much,” Walburga said to Harry and suppressed a shudder as she remembered both of her sons drunk out of their mind. She didn’t want to contemplate what havoc Barty and Regulus will cause. She just hoped Rodolphus and Theodred would keep everything under control.

 

Orion just laughed and patted his sister’s head who leaned into her brother. He was happy for Lucretia.

 

The five were were joined half an hour later by Narcissa, Draco and his grandparents. Draco told them that his father had gone to celebrate too with the others as well. The others nodded at that thoughtfully.

Severus was Lucius’s best friend after all, it would make no sense if he and Theodred weren’t present. Abraxas and Orion hugged each other as they all sat down in the drawing room. They knew no one would sleep for a long time. It had been a while since they'd talked.

 

* * *

 

The Quidditch world cup final was going great and Harry was very impressed with Viktor Krum’s Wronksi Feint. He also noted that Ron had become a fanboy of Krum.

 

“You really like him, don’t you, Ron?” Neville asked with a smile on his face.

 

Ron nodded enthusiastically. “Krum is the best.” He looked at Harry and shook his head. “No offense, mate.”

 

Harry chuckled, “nah, that’s alright. I’d choose him too.” Harry put a hand around Ron’s shoulder. “I’d say you were biased if you hadn’t chosen him.”

 

The six of  friends were having a great time much to the annoyance of Lucius.

 

“Oh come on, son. Don’t be so sullen,” Abraxas whacked his son on the head. Lucius turned red in embarrassment. Lucius's mother, Lady Davis started laughing with Narcissa while the rest of the parents hid their smiles as they saw elder Malfoy berating his son.

 

“You like this stupid sport too, Lucius, what’s your problem?” Severus asked his best friend with a sneer. Why was the blonde so upset ?

 

“My son is an idiot when it comes to Quidditch,” Lucius said while shaking his head. “I know I am pretty much the same but he takes my obsession to a whole new level.” The blonde wizard grimaced as he remembered what Draco had done at the beginning of the match.

 

He had seen _that_. He had actually seen with his own eyes that Draco had looked ready to jump Krum’s bones and the Veelas when they’d come onto the pitch. He shuddered as he remembered the blatant vulgar display. His wife and mother had found the whole thing amusing while his father was rolling with laughter. He didn’t find it amusing in the least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update. Well, at least the next update will not take so long. 
> 
> I hope the chapter was interesting and thanks for reading !


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